Dear Editor,
It was reported on Monday 10th that the Minister of Health is calling for blood donors. Maybe the Ministry of Health needs to find out why there is dearth of blood donors.
The Ministry has a policy of not accepting blood from ‘men who have ever had sex with men’ and ‘women who have had sex with women” – could it be that the sexual practices of the available blood donors in Guyana are much more diverse than the Ministry believes and the Ministry has to review its homophobic stance? St Lucia questions prospective donors on the number of the partners, not the gender of the partners.
Is our population healthy enough to donate blood? Are the blood counts high enough in the population given the stress and pressure to maintain a healthy lifestyle with rising food prices and other costs of living? Is the prevalence of coughs, colds, “flu” preventing interested donors from donating?
Is the Ministry and the medical profession seriously investigating and advocating for alternatives to blood transfusion, so as to reduce dependence on blood products? There seems to be large scientific interest in doing this.
Yours faithfully,
Vidyaratha Kissoon
