Jerusalem – An urgent meeting has been scheduled for Monday by the Knesset’s Labor, Welfare and Health Committee to discuss Israel’s blood donation practices.
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As reported by Israel Hayom (http://bit.ly/19GXX6c) the meeting was scheduled after Magen David Adom refused blood donation by Ethiopian-born MK Pnina Tamano-Shata.
Various countries have similar blood donation regulations to that of Israel. Most have directives not to accept donations from people who have spent certain periods of time in Africa, as well as from people who were in the U.K. in 1999 during the Mad Cow disease outbreak.
The Health Ministry has recently discussed reassessing the blood donation limitations of those people born in Ethiopia and gay men.
Blood donations in Israel are routinely reviewed for the presence of HIV, syphilis, hepatitis B and C and the Human T-lymphotropic virus.