Beijing has terminated blood donation quotas after being
operational for nine years, ending forced blood donation in the
national capital, according to a decision by the local
legislature.
The 26th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 12th Beijing
Municipal People's Congress, the local legislature, scrapped the
Regulations on Mobilizing and Organizing Beijing Citizens to Donate
Blood, which took effect in 1998, on Tuesday.
The 1998 regulations encouraged voluntary blood donation and at
the same time urged governments of various levels to set blood
donation quotas for social institutions and work units in the
city.
After the abolition of the blood donation quotas, stipulations
encouraging voluntary blood donations would continue to be
effective, said Jiang Jingbo, deputy head of the education,
science, culture, health and sports office of the Standing
Committee of the Beijing Municipal People's Congress.
The amount of blood donated by volunteers has been on the rapid
rise in Beijing in recent years, according to statistics of the
Beijing Municipal Health Bureau. Beijing received 64 million cc of
blood donated by volunteers last year compared with 2.8 million cc
in 2000.
"The amount of blood donated by volunteers has increased by
45,000 bags annually over the past five years and is expected to
surge by a large margin in the years to come," said Jing Dapeng,
director of Beijing Municipal Health Bureau, saying that he was
confident that donated blood could meet the demand in Beijing.
Jin said, Beijing had encouraged voluntary blood donation before
1997. However, given the huge clinical demand for blood and
shortage of blood for clinical use in Beijing, the city adopted
regulations in 1998 which both encouraged voluntary donation and
urged local governments of various levels to set blood donation
quotas for social institutions and work units.
Beijing's clinical demand for blood ranks the first in the
country as many patients with serious illnesses travel across China
to Beijing for treatment.
Local health bureau statistics show that Beijing's clinical use
of blood rose to 84 million cc last year from 53.6 million cc in
1998, a rise of 56.7 percent. Of the 53.6 million cc of blood used
in clinical treatment in 1998, only 360,000 cc came from voluntary
donations, according to local media reports.
Currently, Beijing's annual clinical demand for blood stands at
84 million cc and voluntary donations accounted for about 76
percent of the city's total clinical demand for blood last
year.
Beijing is considering setting up a voluntary donation team,
consisting of 40,000 to 50,000 volunteers, to make up the gap, said
Shi Weiwei, deputy head of Beijing Municipal Blood Donation
Office.
The group of volunteers will include army men, college students
and employees of government departments, social institutions and
commercial businesses, Shi said.
China's Law of Blood Donation, which became effective on October
1, 1998, encourages voluntary blood donation.
Voluntary donation is believed to be the safest way to obtain
blood. Experts say viruses like HIV and hepatitis are unlikely to
be transmitted through voluntary donation.
To encourage voluntary donations, Beijing is considering
granting preferential treatment to those who have donated blood
incase they need a blood transfusion.
(Xinhua News Agency March 30, 2006)