The Health Ministry of Russia's Samara Region denies that homosexuals are banned from donating blood to the regional blood transfusion center, saying that the information on the center's website was not updated
SARATOV (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th December, 2019) The Health Ministry of Russia's Samara Region denies that homosexuals are banned from donating blood to the regional blood transfusion center, saying that the information on the center's website was not updated.According to the website of the blood transfusion center, people related to risk groups, including homosexuals, drug addicts and prostitutes, are prevented from donating blood under the respective decree of the Russian Foreign Ministry issued in 2001. Such limitations triggered strong criticism on social media as the decree was amended in 2008 and did not have such a limitation. By Friday evening, the information on homosexuals and prostitutes was deleted from the website.
"According to the Russian law on donation and its elements, a citizen of the full legal age, who has undergone a medical examination, can become a donor. There is no official ban on donors involved in the same-sex relationships in the Samara Regional Clinical Blood Transfusion Center," the ministry's press service said.
The press service also added that the website contained information about the inactive article of the 2001 law, while the main precautions for donating blood are currently HIV, viral hepatitis, and other infectious and parasitical diseases.
