Plasma stations shut 'over image'
By Wang Qingchu |
August 9, 2011, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
SOUTHWEST China's Guizhou Province has closed 16 of its 20 blood plasma collection stations, reportedly because the local government believes they tarnish the province's image.
The closures were to "better protect Guizhou people's health," said a Guizhou Health Department official surnamed Li.
Li denied there had been outbreaks of related epidemics, but declined to answer whether donors of blood plasma had health problems.
However, donors were paid, and The Beijing News reported yesterday that stations were closed partly because officials believed the trade reflected badly on the province.
Guizhou was a major contributor to the nation's blood products and provided 30 percent of China's blood plasma, the newspaper reported.
The closures look set to place further pressure on China's already strained supply of blood products.
Dealers and hospitals scrambled to buy blood products after the shutdown was announced, said the newspaper, citing an anonymous industry insider. Blood products would be more expensive in the future, the report added.
The order to close the 16 blood plasma collection stations from August 1 was handed down by the Guizhou Health Department on July 15.
This was prompted by "safety concerns" and a bid to overturn perceptions that local residents were so poverty-stricken that they sold blood, reported the newspaper, citing an industry insider.
Guizhou donors were paid 170 yuan (US$26) for donating 600 milliliters of blood plasma, and some made a living out of selling blood, the industry insider said.
The closure of the blood plasma collection stations would reduce the supply of hepatitis B immunoglobulin by 50 percent and factor VIII - used to treat hemophilia - by 70 percent, an official of a biotechnology company, told the newspaper.
A total of 7,000 tons of blood plasma is needed each year. But the supply gap has been huge. Only 4,800 tons were collected last year.
Many poor farmers have been infected with HIV through blood selling since the 1990s in Henan Province.
Blood plasma is needed by trauma patients, burn victims and others fighting serious illness.
The closures were to "better protect Guizhou people's health," said a Guizhou Health Department official surnamed Li.
Li denied there had been outbreaks of related epidemics, but declined to answer whether donors of blood plasma had health problems.
However, donors were paid, and The Beijing News reported yesterday that stations were closed partly because officials believed the trade reflected badly on the province.
Guizhou was a major contributor to the nation's blood products and provided 30 percent of China's blood plasma, the newspaper reported.
The closures look set to place further pressure on China's already strained supply of blood products.
Dealers and hospitals scrambled to buy blood products after the shutdown was announced, said the newspaper, citing an anonymous industry insider. Blood products would be more expensive in the future, the report added.
The order to close the 16 blood plasma collection stations from August 1 was handed down by the Guizhou Health Department on July 15.
This was prompted by "safety concerns" and a bid to overturn perceptions that local residents were so poverty-stricken that they sold blood, reported the newspaper, citing an industry insider.
Guizhou donors were paid 170 yuan (US$26) for donating 600 milliliters of blood plasma, and some made a living out of selling blood, the industry insider said.
The closure of the blood plasma collection stations would reduce the supply of hepatitis B immunoglobulin by 50 percent and factor VIII - used to treat hemophilia - by 70 percent, an official of a biotechnology company, told the newspaper.
A total of 7,000 tons of blood plasma is needed each year. But the supply gap has been huge. Only 4,800 tons were collected last year.
Many poor farmers have been infected with HIV through blood selling since the 1990s in Henan Province.
Blood plasma is needed by trauma patients, burn victims and others fighting serious illness.
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