MDA israel

In December 1999, a Ministry of Health directive was issued that prevented all those who had lived in Britain for over 6 consecutive months from donating. A similar directive was issued later regarding those who had lived in France, Ireland and Portugal. The aim of this directive was to reduce transfer of a new variant of "Mad Cow Disease" (Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) / new variant Creutzfeldt Jacob disease - nvCJD( that was discovered in those who had received blood in those countries, following transfer from animals that were infected with the disease.

These instructions led to many people who had moved from the above countries to Israel, or tourists, being prevented from donating blood.

At the end of 2022, the FDA issued new recommendations to reduce the possibility of transfer of CJD of vCJD through blood or its components. These recommendations are based on new information that was prepared and published in Britain, and according to risk assessment models, the calculated risk of transfer of vCJD through plasma from blood donations, is one or two cases in every 50 years. This risk does not justify turning away blood donors in the same way as in the past. In addition, the risk to patients receiving immunoglobulin (IVIG) treatment is also negligible. Filtering the blood components in order to distance the white blood cells from the blood components increases the safety.

Following the recommendation of the professional committee that advises the Ministry of Health on the subject of blood donations, the Ministry has adopted the FDA directives on this matter, in order to remove the restrictions of receiving blood donations from those from Britain / changes in criteria to accept blood donors with risk of vCJD.

The new recommendations are:

1. No longer turning away donors for the following reasons (indefinitely):
2. Geographical risk of exposure to Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), following residence in Britain between 1980 – 1996, and France and Ireland between 1980 – 2001.
3. Receiving blood in Britain, France and Ireland since 1980.
4. To return to the donor pool those who in the past had been rejected due to the above geographical restrictions, on condition that they fulfil all other criteria for blood donors in Israel.
5. The question that prevented the above donors from donating is to be removed from the blood donors' questionnaire.
6. A question regarding residence of over 6 months in Britain between 1980 – 1996, or receipt of blood transfusions / operations in Britain since 1980 will be added to the questionnaire, so that these units of blood will be sent for filtration to distance white blood cells – prior to being given to patients.

The new regulations come into effect today – 15.01.2023

Prof. Eilat Shinar, MDA Deputy Director General of Blood Services greeted the change in policy: "For many years we've had to turn away those who made Aliya from these countries or had resided there for over 6 months. We're pleased to tell all our loyal blood donors, who continued to approach us and asked us to change the regulations that this day has finally arrived! We will be pleased to meet these donors once again at MDA blood donation locations across Israel, in order to continue to fulfil the demands of the health service and the IDF, to provide blood units and components safely and at a high standard, to all those who require this treatment in order to save their lives."

MDA Blood Services call on the public to donate blood at the blood donation locations in shopping malls, MDA stations, and other public spaces across Israel. Location details can be found on the MDA website http://www.mdais.org/dam or by phone on 03-5300400. 

The donations take place according to Ministry of Health regulations regarding Corona, according to which those recovered or those exposed to Corona patients can donate blood as follows:

• Confirmed Corona patients can donate blood following 7 days after receiving a recovery certificate
• Vaccinated / recovered patients who have been exposed – can give blood with no restriction dependent on a declaration of a negative antigen test taken 3 days following the exposure.
• Non-vaccinated / non-recovered who have been exposed – can donate blood after 5 days, dependent on a declaration of a negative antigen test on the 5^th day after the exposure.

Anyone interested in arranging a blood donation session (minimum of 30 donors) in their neighborhood or workplace, can call MDA Blood Services on 03-5300400.