LATEST NEWS:

Joy Lee

The China Post

Publication Date : 26-02-2013

A 30 year-old Taiwanese man was turned away from a blood donation center for having had two girlfriends at different times within a year, according to local reports.

The man, surnamed Cheng, who has given blood 39 times, was asked about his dating history before donating blood last year. The nursing personnel said he wouldn't be able to donate because he had been in relationships with two women within one year.

“Being in a relationship does not equal having a sexual relationship,” Cheng said, “and even if there is a sexual relationship, it does not necessarily mean that it should affect the qualification to donate blood.”

Cheng said that he felt insulted by the incident because he just wanted to donate blood to help those in need.

A member of Taichung's blood donation centre, Lin Shang-hsien, explained that the nursing staff member was trying to ask Cheng if he had had multiple sexual partners within the previous year, but might have chosen an inappropriate way of asking the question.

Lin said that blood donation centres always use the highest standards to check the qualifications of blood donors in order to ensure the safety and quality of blood.

“Blood donation centre come up with these questions because it is their job to make sure the blood they collected does not contain contagious viruses,” Lin said.

Lin said that the blood donation centre will review the standard procedures of how nursing personnel question blood donors to avoid similar incidents from happening again.

According to the Department of Health, people who adopt what it considers dangerous sexual behavior, including having sex with strangers, having one-night stands, visiting prostitutes or having more than one sexual partner within a year, are not eligible to donate blood.