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Bulebel Blood Drive Allegedly Rejected Donation Because Donor Is Indian

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In celebration of World Blood Donor Day yesterday, an Indian national, author and current Maltese resident Asif Ali was not approved to donate blood – and took to social media to deride what he described as an “immature, senseless and discriminatory statement from the organisers of blood donation camp”.

“I received the invitation from my organisation, I registered for it, I gave my name, number and fixed a time to go there” said Asif, “and then I took some time out from work to go there and donate blood”.

When he arrived, Asif alleges that he was asked where he was from. When he responded with the name of the organisation employing him, he was asked, “which country?”

“I said ‘India’. They answered, ‘I’m sorry, you can’t donate your blood here’.”

According to Asif’s account, when he told employees that he had been in Malta for over a year, in case they were refusing his donation based on thinking he had travelled recently, they responded, “but you were born in India, right?”

Because his answer was yes, they replied, “So we can’t take your blood.”

This Bulubel blood drive was organised by Teva Malta, in collaboration with Blood Donation Malta. Though Teva had an instrumental role in promoting the event and raising awareness, General Manager Patrick Cachia told Lovin Malta that “it is not up to Teva Malta who can donate blood or not but it is up to the Blood Donation Team to decide”.

“The team in the Blood Donation Unit refuse donations from both nationals and non-nationals due to a number of set criteria, i.e. low blood pressure, fever, rashes, travel, etc. This happens regularly.”

Though Teva did not exercise any decision making power over who could or could not donate blood, they confirmed there had been “an Indian employee from another company that was not approved” and directed Lovin Malta to Blood Donation Malta for further clarifications.

Lovin Malta contacted Blood Donation Malta about this incident, but did not receive a response in time for the publication of this article.

It was clear from Asif’s public statements that he felt this incident was discriminatory – and though he has experienced similar things in Malta, none have been quite like this.

“I haven’t had the same experiences. But there were people who told me ‘you should speak Maltese if you want to work in Malta’. That discriminatory behaviour I have experienced before.”

When Lovin Malta asked if there had been inquiries into anything beyond his nationality, which could have prompted Blood Donation employees to turn him down, he responded: “No, just that”.

“I told them, ‘that’s very weird. After all, its blood. And I really don’t understand why you’re saying this’. They kept repeating the same things.”

According to the National Blood Transfusion service, “All healthy persons can donate blood as long as they do not fall into a high risk group”.

“One can donate blood from the age of 17 until the 68th birthday.”

They also delineate the reasons that a donation might be rejected.

“Nobody will be allowed to donate blood if there is even the slightest risk to themselves (eg. when the level of iron in the body is not at the required level). Persons are also not allowed to donate blood if their blood can be of a risk to a patient, or if the donor takes particular medicines.”

At no point is nationality mentioned in their documentation, though it is stated that in order to donate, “a donor needs to take with them their ID Card, driving licence or Maltese passport” – which does not necessarily mean that a donor needs to be Maltese.

Anybody interested in donating blood for a good cause can learn more about their eligibility here.

Have you ever been rejected from donating blood?

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Pawlu is a journalist interested in Race, Environmental Issues, Music, Migration and Skate Culture. Pawlu loves to swim everyday and believes that cars are an inadequate solution to our earthly woes. You can get in touch at pawlu@lovinmalta.com

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