A blood donor must:

• be in good general health
• be aged 18 years or older but less than 60 years
• weigh at least 45 Kg
• have a hemoglobin level of at least 12.5 g/dl
• not have donated blood in the last 3 months

Blood must not be donated if a person is suffering from any of these conditions:

• Cold/ fever in the past 1 week
• Under treatment with antibiotics or any other medication
• Cardiac problems, hypertension, epilepsy, diabetes (on insulin therapy), history of cancer, chronic kidney or liver disease, bleeding tendencies, venereal disease
• Major surgery in the last 6 months or minor surgery in the past 3 months
• Jaundice or hepatitis or positivity for Hepatitis B or C viruses
• Tooth extraction less than 3 days back or dental surgery less than 1 month back
• Fainting attacks during the last donation
• On therapy with regular blood transfusions
• Sharing needles to inject drugs/ having history of drug addiction
• Sexual relations with different partners or with a high risk individual           
• Been tested positive for antibodies to HIV
• Any endocrinal problem
• Females should not donate blood during pregnancy. They can donate after 6 months following delivery and when they are not breast feeding
• Females should not donate blood if they are having heavy menstrual flow or menstrual cramps
• Miscarriage in the last 6 months

Some diseases can be transmitted through blood transfusion. Therefore, all donated blood is screened for transfusion transmissible diseases such as HIV, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, Syphilis and Malaria. Even with testing, sometimes infections are not detected, although the rate of detection is extremely good with better methods of testing (e.g. NAT).

It is safe to donate blood once in every three months.

Since blood contains iron (which is essential for making new red blood cells), donating blood more often than every 3 months causes the body to lose iron faster than it can be made up from iron-containing foods in our diet. As a result the donor could develop iron deficiency anemia, causing him/her to feel weak and tired.

Blood can be a life-saving therapy for patients. One unit of blood can save 4 lives (if it is separated into components). Healthy people should donate blood regularly and voluntarily to overcome shortage of blood for patients. It has been proven worldwide that voluntary donations are the safest of all kinds of donations.

Replacement donations are donations in which the patient is asked to arrange blood for him/herself. If the blood group of the donor and the patient match, the blood is transfused (directed donations). If they do not match, the blood is stocked and a group-match blood is issued (replacement donations). Replacement donations have a higher rate of transfusion transmissible infections than voluntary donations.
Paid donations are highly unsafe because they are usually given by people for ulterior motives (e.g. drug addicts) and have a very high rate of transfusion transmissible infections.
Even the most sophisticated methods of testing available may fail to detect such infections. Therefore, it is important that voluntary donations by anonymous donors, for altruistic reasons are promoted.

The likelihood of this happening is minimal. You should eat before donating and drink extra fluids, especially after donation.

Giving blood is not painful. You may feel a prick when the needle is inserted, which lasts only a few seconds.

No. It is perfectly healthy to donate blood once every 3 months.

Absolutely not! All equipment used to collect blood are sterile. These items are used once and discarded.

There are four components in blood: red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets and plasma. Red blood cells supply oxygen to various parts of the body. White blood cells fight against disease or infections. Plasma carries nutrients, clotting factors and enzymes. Platelets help clot the blood to prevent excessive bleeding. Today, doctors transfuse individual blood components based upon the patient’s needs. Major categories of patient needs include: cancer therapy, organ transplants, accident victims and people undergoing elective surgical procedures.

Red cells – 35 days
Platelets – 5 days
Fresh frozen plasma – 1 year

Blood has several components, including red blood cells, platelets and plasma. Donor apheresis is a special type of blood donation in which a specific component, viz. platelets, granulocytes (white cells) plasma or plasma is withdrawn from the donor using a special equipment called as cell separator; the remaining components are returned to the donor’s blood circulation. This procedure takes about 90 minutes during which the donor is constantly monitored by trained medical personnel.

Platelet concentrate prepared from one unit of whole blood contains very few platelets. Six to ten such whole-blood derived platelets would be required to supply enough platelets for one patient. However, platelets donated during one apheresis session by one donor are sufficient for one transfusion, thus reducing the chance of transfusion transmitted infections. Patients with cancer or leukemia or with blood disorders benefit immensely from such plateletpheresis. The donor benefits too, since there are no loss of red cells. One can donate apheresis components more frequently than whole blood donation.

Any healthy person who meets the criteria for whole blood donation is eligible for apheresis donation.

Typically only about one hour.