GIVING BLOOD IN GREECE
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Does anybody know the rules governing giving blood here in Crete?
A friend of ours has been admitted to hospital in Heraklion with aggressive leukemia, the hospital has asked all friends and ex-pats in giving blood at the hospital but we are not sure about the rules about doing this on the island.
Any info would be greatly received
Mark and Lydia
cretefc@otenet.gr
There’s a thread on this under Health Matters in Crete, page 2. Looks like we Brits can’t donate blood here :(
As far as I’m aware, in Greece, if you have lived in (or visited) the UK between certain dates (I think it’s a date in the 1980’s until the mid 1990’s but you’d have to check that) then they will not accept your blood.
Maybe if you have the same blood group as your friend they would be willing to take your blood as long as it is only used for them, however, I’m sure the blood has to go through a lot of stages of processing before it actually gets to the patient.
I give blood regularly in the UK and each time you have to fill in a huge form swearing that you havent done this or that including being in the same room as a gay man or near anyone with an infection in the past year!(only joking but not far off) Last time they even checked I hadn’t been to Greece in the past 6 weeks (apparently West Nile Virus has reached there now). My point is they are very very careful about taking blood so I can imagine its even worse in Crete. They do also check whether you have received any blood (not given) in the 80s (not sure of exact years) I think due to the CJD but they aren’t sure of the incubation period so again are extremely careful.I do know that the blood is and has to be used within a few days so I doubt if there’s much ‘processing’.
you cannot give blood here if you lived in the UK in the 80’s or 90’s because of BSE (mad cow disease) .
If the medics looking after your friend are asking all to donate then they will have decided the criteria for blood in light of your friends need.
You should ask the family to ask the doctors what you should do & who they will accept to donate, normal restrictions placed on anonymous blood donation maybe waived in this situation.
Hi ever hopeful,
when the medics are asking for friends to donate they probably mean Greek friends or friends from another country to which this ban does not apply.
the patient that Mark is referring to comes from another country not the UK and I do not know if donated blood from that country is allowed.
just looked it up and the country that the patient comes from did have BSE in the 80’sAs an ex donor in the UK, I am prepared to contribute an armful, however, being a pretty rare blood group, I doubt if I am compatible.
What blood group is your friend, maybe you could just target people with the same group.From what I remember from a similar situation earlier this year the hospital just wanted their supply replaced, ie if an operation requires x amount of blood transfusions then the hospital would like family and friends to donate the same amount to replace their supplies .
the blood of course would not necessarily be of the same type
Sorry Peebee you can not give blood, my partner was also a donor in the UK but because of the restrictions it is not possible.Latsida
Even if it it going direct to a particular recipient who is willing to accept it?not as far as I know, but would very much like to be corrected on that
As time is of the essence it would be quicker & give you the correct answer if you just asked the staff or the family asked for clarification on who can donate.
This is a routine procedure to them & they will be able to tell you immediately who can donate.
Hope it goes wellI don’t understand-if it’s the hospital that has asked the friends and ex-pats for blood,then what is the problem? Surely they must know the rules and how to get it done?
No I’m afraid the hospital don’t usually know the rules, the Blood Donor department certainly do, but the surgical wards etc often not. The senior consultant (surgery) at Heraklion Hospital told us to donate 5 units of blood from friends and family. The Blood donor department at Hania Hospital would not except blood from anyone who had been in the UK during a specified period (as detailed above). Other restrictions also apply of course, (upper age limit, using certain medications, high blood pressure etc). When I told the ward administration at Heraklion that we were barred from donating because we had been in the UK they said that they didn’t know that. Incidentally because I had turned up and volunteered to give blood, albeit that I was unable to because of my former UK residence, they credited me with one unit, very kind of them. (You are asked to go to a blood donor department, give the blood, and have it credited to the patient). My experience is that any Greeks you know are only too willing to do this. This request by the hospital for blood is a common practice, but I don’t think it is a legal requirement, and everyone can see the sense in it and complies if possible.
John
Hospital treatment on the scale that it is now for foreigners is a fairly recent event in Greece given the rise in expats who have chosen to live here in the last ten years.
Greece is not alone in barring the donation of blood from certain countries ,the USA has a huge list including most of Europe
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