Donating blood in Taiwan 🩸

I’m not MAD, their loss!

I just came back from the donor station in Daan park this morning. The officer who was there said that I cannot donate blood for some foreign nationals who have not lived in Taiwan for more than three years.
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Even though in my home country, I donate regularly because it really relaxes me

is this a medical thing?

I had same experience when I came to Taiwan. After 3 years you are able to donate if you meet all the other requirements.

Did he say ‘lived’ here or ‘not left country’ in that period?

Maybe because your blood is reduced and the pressure in the blood vessels becomes looser.

I’m not sure about what she said. She seemed stammered and did not understand English. My guess is to stay in Taiwan without going abroad for at least 3 years. A rule that is slightly different from other countries.

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I always think how about Taiwanese that traveled to the UK and had beef .

I think that I mentioned in this thread (if not, elsewhere) be turned away due to “Mad Cow Disease” despite never being in the UK, not having eaten beef in…decades and being with a colleague who had studied in the UK (and was fine to donate blood because, you know).

Had stayed in the UK for a cumulative period of 3 months or more from 1980-1996

When and how long was he in UK? This rule also applies for Taiwanese.

Interesting thread on Reddit about Creutzfeldt – Jakob disease

Ok that might explain the rule

Nice gesture. They send you a ‘Thank you’ letter.

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The vaccinated donating blood?

About 4 months ago I donated blood. They asked me the usual questions and whether or not I was vaccinated. I said no.
They let me donate blood.
I assumed that they were denying people permission to give blood at the time.

Fast forward this month, I went for my usual blood donation and it looked like they they were letting people donate blood. They had signs listing the various vaccines available and I believe they were asking people which vaccine if any they have taken. I just said none.

Are they making separate blood products for each vaccine and the vaccinated? That seems like a lot of work and you can never guess which products you need the right amount of.

Anyone with inside information on how they handle the vaccinated please share.
By the way do they give you any gifts in your area for giving blood? In our area they usually give you one bag of rice for a small donation and two bags of rice for a large donation. I think it is done in conjunction with the Lions Club or the other business organization.

All I know is that you can’t donate within 2 weeks of getting vaccinated. I tried and failed, they said to come back the following week :slight_smile:

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Same experience as fifieldt.
They ask if vaccination was more than two weeks ago and then you can donate. This is not recorded in any way. All blood donations are handled the same way, vaccinated or not.

Not possible to ask for ‘unvaccinated’ blood infusions in hospitals. Not like there is time for that during an emergency anyway. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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That makes sense, but when donating I saw individual sheets of information with the vax names on them. I couldn’t really read them. They also asked which one you took. Next donation, I’ll snap photos of the signs. I guess they just tracking data.

German parliament just passed this new law.
Will such discrimination end in Taiwan? Would be interesting to know how Taiwanese political parties think about it. I guess it will rather come through a court ruling.

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basically from 17 to 65.

over 65, you need to see a doctor once a year and get a permission. you may also need a health certificate. and maybe need to make an appointment during a period a doctor stays at the donation center.

there was/is an attempt to raise the age limit to 70, but idk how is the trial.

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My two cents: Taiwan needs blood but they make it almost impossible for people to donate based on arbitrary discrimination. If they are really in need they need to adjust the laws to the 21st century based on real accurate research.

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