Iranians more than enthusiastic to donate blood

COURTESY OF THE IRANIAN BLOOD TRANSFUSION ORGANIZATION

Iranians donated two million units of blood last year, which should be increased to three in coming years if it’s meant to meet domestic demand, head of the Iranian Blood Transfusion Organization said.

Making the remarks to Iran Daily’s correspondent, Dr. Mostafa Jamali admired Iranians for their enthusiastic participation, adding that the collective will to donate blood sometimes outperforms the organization’s capacity to admit volunteers.

“Donating blood has some established therapeutic advantages, including decreasing the chances of developing cancer or cardiovascular conditions. We, however, encourage people to donate blood out of spiritual or altruistic reasons,” Dr. Jamali added.

There are limitations which disqualify certain people from donating blood, including people who have thalassemia, undergone heart surgery, or been using certain prescription drugs. The experts at each station interview prospective donors to determine if they can actually donate blood.

Emphasizing that exporting donated blood units is out of question for Iran, Dr. Jamali encouraged Iranians to keep tending to those in need of blood products, calling it a sort of collective insurance policy because “most of us cannot possibly anticipate our future need for blood transfusion.”