Is giving blood safe?
Yes, for a healthy adult who follows the rules. Everything that touches you is sterile and used once, a small part of your blood is taken and replaced within weeks, and a doctor checks you before every donation. The services do not say that giving blood is good for your own health: it is safe, and it helps patients.
Why it is safe
- **Sterile equipment.** The needle and the bag are used once, so you cannot catch anything by giving blood.
- **A small part of your blood.** Usually 450 millilitres, eight to ten percent of the blood in your body. The plasma is replaced in two days, the red cells in about four weeks, and the iron in them in about eight.
- **A check before every donation.** The doctor checks your temperature, pulse and blood pressure, and a drop of blood from your finger shows your haemoglobin. If something is off, you do not give blood that day.
- **Rules that protect you.** From 18 to 65 years, at least 50 kilograms, and a wait between donations: men every 12 weeks, women every 16, which is how long the iron takes to come back.
What can happen
Sometimes a bruise is left where the needle went in. It is harmless and goes away within days. A few donors feel faint afterwards: tell the staff, sit or lie down until it passes, then get up slowly. It helps to come rested, after a light meal, and to avoid rushing, cigarettes and alcohol that day. More in the question does giving blood hurt.
For whom it is not safe
Some illnesses and medicines rule out giving blood, or mean you have to wait. Who they are is in the question who cannot give blood, and the waiting times after a cold, medicines and a vaccine are in giving blood after medicines, vaccines and colds. The “Can I donate?” screen in the app works out from which day you can. The doctor at the place of donation always makes the final decision, so tell them about every illness and medicine.
Is it healthy
No service says that giving blood improves your health, and neither do we. The check before a donation is not a medical check-up either: it is there to protect the donor and the patient. If you think you were at risk of an infection, get tested somewhere else rather than giving blood to find out.
Sources
- ITKS: Other frequently asked questions (in Serbian)
- ITKS: The donation procedure (in Serbian)
- ITKS: Who can give blood (in Serbian)
- ZTKV: Become a blood donor (in Serbian)
- ZTKV: Blood collection department (in Serbian)
- Red Cross of Serbia: Criteria (in Serbian)
- Rulebook on the criteria for selecting blood donors (2012, in Serbian)