Payment for blood donors to be scrapped

Take note – story published 8 years ago

 

In the future, blood donors will not receive payment for giving their corpuscles for the benefit of others, State Blood Donor Center (VADC) spokeswoman Zane Mistra said Thursday on LTV's Rita Panorama news show.  

Next year it is planned that payments for blood will be stopped and Latvia will move to an entirely charitable system of donation, Mistra said.

Such a model is typical across most of Europe, including in neighboring Lithuania, she explained.

According to Mistra, VADC questionnaires and data show that people donate blood mainly for philanthropic reasons, not in order to receive the modest financial gains on offer.

However she admitted that ending payments might cause a reduction in the number of donors, though "not to a great extent.

Currently, donors receive a "lunch allowance" of just over €4 for a donation - plus other free gifts including a selection of snacks or a pair of socks, according to which companies or other organizations are sponsoring the donation drive at the time. 

Mistra said that currently around 160 individuals give blood per day and that stocks were in a satisfactory state.

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