In the early 1980s, more than 2,000 Canadians who received blood transfusions were infected with HIV and as many as 30,000 contracted Hepatitis C. This tragic scandal, and the Krever Inquiry that followed, resulted in the overhaul of our blood donation system to ensure the safety of any blood products. This made Canada one of the safest countries for blood transfusion in the world.
Among the recommendations from Justice Horace Krever was that Canada should not pay donors for blood or plasma, except in rare circumstances. This is in line with the World Health Organization’s recommendation that all governments should strive for the safest process: using unpaid, voluntary blood and plasma donors.
Unfortunately, we are moving towards doing exactly that in Canada: paying cash for blood products.
Read the full article on The Globe and Mail web site.