Who can and who can not? Myths and truths about blood donation

Blood donation is an action that helps save lives or improve the health of many patients, so that the authorities call so permanent from voluntarily

Although in Chile, the numbers regarding donors are still low, the number of donors increased by 20% in 2017.

According to the Ministry of Health, one of the reasons why this figure does not increase are the myths that exist around the gift.

• Who can donate blood?

Persons between 18 and 60 years of age

Weighing about 50 kilos.

They ingested food during the last 6 hours before donation.

In the case where they gave before, they spent 3 months in the case of men and 4 in women. [19659002] Have a single badual partner in the last 6 months.

To do this, they must only present their identity card or pbadport.

• What is the donation process?

The person who goes to a blood bank must answer a questionnaire . It is important that you answer with the truth.

If the candidate is fit, 450cc of blood is collected

Next, in the blood bank, this donation will be studied for ] exclude the presence of different viruses transmissible by this route , such as hepatitis B and C, HIV, syphilis, Chagas disease and HTLV I. In addition, blood type is determined

. fractionated in red blood cells, platelets, cryoprecipitates and plasma. In this way, it will be available to those who need it.

It is FALSE that tattooed persons can not give blood. They can do this, provided that more than seven months have elapsed since the last tattoo

IT IS FALSE that people with diabetes can not be donors. They can donate as long as they are in treatment

It is FALSE that people who have used marijuana can not donate. If more than 12 hours have elapsed since the last time of smoking, they can do so

It is FALSE that hypertensive persons can not donate blood . They can donate as long as they have the pressure within the acceptable limits to do it.

In Chile there are 51 fixed blood donation sites in the country, depending on the 29 existing health services. For more information, check here.