Russia facing blood donation crisis : Reports

Moscow, Sep 6 (UNI) Russia is facing a crisis of blood donation, with a sharp decline in the number of voluntary blood donators, in the last few years.

''There is no register of donors, no information on blood reserves, and the risk of contracting an infectious disease through a blood transfusion in Russia is 500-1000 times higher here than in developed countries,''leading Russian business daily Kommersant said quoing a report by Federal Health and Social Development Supervisory Service (Roszdravnadzor).

Sources at the Federal Service told the paper that so-called ''blood service,'' a division of the Health Ministry and Social Development,is on the brink of paralysis.

''They noted that the current situation is to the advantage of the black market, worth millions of dollars,'' it said.

In Russia, the number of voluntary blood donors has decreased from 4 million to 1.8 million in the last ten years. There are now 13 donors per 1000 people, which is half the European average.

In the last ten years, 65 people have been infected with the HIV virus through blood transfusions.

The lack of supervision of donors and blood reserves by the blood service, as well as outdated and worn out equipment, endangers a variety of branches of medicine and makes the development of high-technology operations such as organ transplantation and high-dose chemotherapy impossible.

In Russia, the donated blood market is controlled by the law ''On Donated Blood and Its Components.'' Under the law, money to obtain blood from the public is allotted from regional budgets. Donated blood becomes the property of blood bank that receives it.

Blood banks sell the blood at a market rate. They have no licences for medical activities, but they have the right to transport the blood. They are not responsible for its quality. A black market also exists, selling the blood at exorbitant prices, the paper wrote.

UNI