“I have asked myself the question why for many, many years and I have asked the blood service and other people and I have never got a satisfactory answer to it. “There is no science to the Irish situation, no rationality to it, it doesn’t make any sense. Tomás believes that the cause of the Irish restrictions is an institutional fear of an unforeseen problem. They have made a change in Britain and also in the North,” he said. “I am incredibly frustrated watching this play out. I think it is very likely to be blood from gay men. “I would imagine at least some of what is coming in would be from men who are taking up the opportunity for the first time. Tomás Heneghan, who took a High Court action to compel the Government to change the restriction, said that it was “incredibly frustrating” to watch the issue play out. Tomás Heneghan has campaigned against restriction on Irish gay men donating blood.
![can gay men donate blood uk can gay men donate blood uk](https://s31242.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/blood-for-sick-people-D6GYTTN-1.jpg)
![can gay men donate blood uk can gay men donate blood uk](https://media.bloodcancer.org.uk/images/pexels-pranidchakan-boonrom-1350560.width-700.jpg)
This means that a man whose last sexual contact with another man was more than 12 months ago will be eligible to donate if he meets the other donor selection criteria. The IBTS formerly had a lifelong deferral for men who have sex with men (MSM), but this was changed to a one-year deferral in the last five years. They said that while gay men can donate blood in the UK, the IBTS has certain restrictions. #blood #BloodBan #Pride - NXF June 30, 2021Ī campaigner and two groups representing gay men and men who have sex with men have criticised the importation. We repeat our call for blood donation to be based solely on individual behaviours, not gender/sexuality. Ireland imposes harsher restrictions on gay & bi men who wish to donate blood than most other European countries.
![can gay men donate blood uk can gay men donate blood uk](https://www.thetimes.co.uk/imageserver/image/%2Fmethode%2Ftimes%2Fprod%2Fweb%2Fbin%2F3a73b184-3d83-11eb-83a7-25db7141c256.jpg)
The IBTS does occasionally import a small number of rare blood units, however. The IBTS has not imported blood in bulk since the late 1990s. On Wednesday the Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) announced it was importing a bulk consignment of blood from the UK for the first time since the late 1990s due to a current shortage in supply.ġ15 units of Rh negative blood groups – O negative, A negative and B negative – were collected from the NHS Blood and Transplant in Manchester on Friday. CAMPAIGNERS HAVE THIS week criticised the need to import blood from Britain without addressing restrictions on Irish gay and bisexual men from donating blood.