Incidence With Reasons for Blood Donor Deferral in Private Healthcare Setting

Dr. Akhilesh Kumar, Dr. Muskan Chaudhary, Dr. Anshul Bansal, Dr. Anshul Bansal

Abstract: Background: Blood transfusion is a vital, life-saving intervention, especially in emergencies. In many developing countries, patients still face delays in accessing safe blood due to limited infrastructure, inadequate numbers of blood banks, poorly equipped laboratories, unreliable transport, low voluntary donation rates, cultural barriers, fear, misconceptions, and weak donor recruitment and retention systems. Ensuring safe transfusions depends on both advanced screening technology and the promotion of healthy, voluntary blood donation. Careful donor selection through proper eligibility criteria and infection screening is essential to prevent adverse reactions. However, deferring donors can discourage them from returning and reduce the available donor pool, making it important to understand and address the reasons for deferral. Aim: To assess the frequency and causes of blood donor deferrals in a Private health care setting and to examine their pattern in relation to donor characteristics. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional retrospective study conducted over 3 months (April 2025? June2025) at the Blood Centre, Department of Transfusion Medicine, RBH, Jaipur. Donor information was obtained from official records. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize demographic details, deferral rates in males and females, and the proportion of temporary and permanent deferrals. A Chi-square test was applied to determine the association between gender and type of deferral. Results: Out of 752 individuals who registered for blood donation, 84 (5.85%) were deferred. The majority of donors were male (n = 60), while females accounted for 24 registrations. Most deferrals (76.4%) were temporary, commonly due to low haemoglobin levels or recent alcohol consumption on antibiotics, recent surgery or tattoos, rabies vaccination. Permanent deferrals (23.6%) were mainly due to uncontrolled hypertension, on cardiac medications and diabetes on insulin. A significant association was found between gender and deferral type (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Low haemoglobin, alcohol intake before donation, hypertension, and diabetes, recent minor surgeries were the leading causes of donor deferral. Focused strategies, including nutritional counselling, health education, and community outreach, are needed to improve donor eligibility and encourage deferred donors to return. Such measures can strengthen blood transfusion services and better meet the needs of patients requiring blood.

Keywords: Blood donor deferral, Temporary deferral, Permanent deferral, Low hemoglobin, Donor eligibility, Private healthcare setting, Blood donation, Donor recruitment, Transfusion safety, Deferral causes

How to Cite?: Dr. Akhilesh Kumar, Dr. Muskan Chaudhary, Dr. Anshul Bansal, Dr. Anshul Bansal, "Incidence With Reasons for Blood Donor Deferral in Private Healthcare Setting", Volume 14 Issue 8, August 2025, International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR), Pages: 888-890, https://www.ijsr.net/getabstract.php?paperid=SR25818102855, DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.21275/SR25818102855