Government defends banning certain groups from blood donor lists

NEW DELHI: The Center on Thursday justified excluding transgender people, men who have sex with men and female sex workers from the list of potential blood donors, saying the decision was not discriminatory but based on health studies that found HIV incidence rates among these groups to be six to 13 times higher.Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati told a three-judge bench headed by CJI Surya Kant that the national blood policy focuses on procurement of blood from safe donor banks. “Procuring blood and components from high-risk groups goes against the tenets of the policy,” Bhatti said.“There is substantial evidence that transgender people, men who have sex with men and female sex workers are at ‘risk’ of contracting HIV, hepatitis B or hepatitis C,” the ministry said in its affidavit. Citing the 2020-21 annual report of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the report said, “HIV infection rates among transgender people, men who have sex with men and female sex workers are 6 to 13 times higher than the adult HIV infection rate.“Similar restrictions exist around the world for blood donors from groups at high risk for HIV and other transfusion-transmitted infections. For example, in most European countries, sexually active men who have sex with men are permanently deferred from donating blood,” the ministry said.The Ministry of Health stated that the blood transfusion system is one of the last resort for critically ill patients and the risk of TTI must be eliminated.“The issue must also be judged from a public health perspective, not just from an individual rights perspective, paying attention to the practical realities of unequal access to quality health care in a large and diverse country,” Barty said.