Who cannot give blood?
Any healthy person aged 18 to 65 who weighs over 50 kilograms can give blood. Far more common than a permanent no is a wait: after a cold, a medicine or a tattoo you wait some days or months. The doctor at the donation always has the final word.
The basics
- 18 to 65 years old, as the Law on Transfusion Medicine says.
- At least 50 kilograms: from a lighter person too large a share of their blood would be taken.
- Body temperature up to 37 °C and a pulse of 50 to 100 a minute.
- Blood pressure within the limits the doctor checks.
- Haemoglobin above 135 g/L for men and above 125 g/L for women. Low haemoglobin only means waiting: once its cause is dealt with, you can give.
Sex, religion, nationality, sexual orientation, political views, occupation and social standing play no part in who can give. Only health does.
When you can never give
ITKS and ZTKV publish the same table. Among others, people are ruled out for good who have or have had:
- cancer, or a chronic disease that has damaged an organ;
- serious heart disease: angina, coronary disease, heart surgery, malignant high blood pressure;
- asthma, chronic obstructive lung disease, emphysema;
- diabetes treated with insulin;
- epilepsy under treatment, a stroke;
- clotting disorders, repeated thrombosis;
- HIV, hepatitis B or C, syphilis, malaria and other chronic infections;
- chronic autoimmune diseases such as Crohn's disease, multiple sclerosis, psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis;
- a transplanted organ or tissue, repeated fainting when giving blood, drug or alcohol addiction, and high-risk sexual behaviour.
The full list is on ITKS's page on when blood cannot be given, and the doctor at the donation says what applies to you.
When you just wait
Far more often you only wait, for example seven days after a cold or a tooth out, 180 days after a tattoo or major surgery. The waits are in after a cold, medicine or a vaccine, and the app's Can I donate? screen works out the day you can.