MDA israel

A new era in blood donation has begun. Following cooperation between the Ministry of Health and Magen David Adom Blood Services, the restrictions on receiving blood donors from the LGBT community have been changed. The historic correction was carried out at the request of the Minister of Health and following a professional recommendation from the Advisory Committee to the Ministry of Health for Transfusion Medicine, led by Prof. Eilat Shinar, MDA Deputy Director General-Blood Services. The change in policy shows and equal approach to all blood donors, without reference to the donor's gender or sexual orientation. The section dealing with the restriction of blood donations from men who have relations with men for 12 months has been replaced with a wording that refers to having high-risk relations with a new partner or multiple partners, after which one has to wait 3 months until the next blood donation.

Last week, Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz arrived at the Magen David Adom blood bank in Jerusalem and donated blood: "The ban on homosexual men donating blood was a remnant of a stereotype that belongs in history. We removed the degrading and irrelevant questions in the blood donation questionnaire. From now on, every blood donor who comes with the goal of saving a life will receive equal treatment, no matter what his gender or sexual orientation, whether he is LGBT or straight. We have taken another historic step towards equality for LGBT people in Israel, and it is a great achievement, with which you can do a lot of good things. MDA always responds to every request and functions exceptionally well. I call on all Israeli citizens, without distinction, to come and donate blood to save lives. "

Prof. Eilat Shinar, MDA Deputy Director General-Blood Services: "We would like to thank the Minister of Health who came to donate blood, thanks to the restrictions that were removed. We were able to do this while working together and excelling the MDA Blood Services with the Ministry of Health and other parties. We managed to create equality and we all came to the negotiating table with the same goal. The change was also made possible thanks to the excellent and accurate tests performed today in MDA's Blood Services, with the help of which, diseases that can pass through the blood can be detected as soon as possible, thus ensuring the quality and safety of blood transfusions in Israel.

Eli Bin, MDA Director General: "One blood donation can help save the lives of three sick or injured people and donating blood is a great privilege. In order to maintain the blood supply required for the health system, it is necessary to collect more than 1,000 units of blood from volunteer blood donors every day. The historic amendment makes it possible to create equality and will help expand the pool of volunteer blood donors, for the benefit of the country's citizens who need to donate blood routinely and in case of emergency. I thank Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz for his cooperation, I call on the general public to come and donate blood - regardless of religion, race, gender and sexual orientation for mutual benefit and for all"