Thousands of donors denied from giving blood

The T-Cruzi test for the Chagas disease is available in England but the results are unable to be used in Scotland.

The Chagas beetle, which carries the deadly disease that passes from mother to child, is rife in deprived areas in South America.

Officials said they want the test but said it was a "cost effective issue".

I have fought so many hurdles to give blood over the years because of this problem Dr Michael Turnbull Blood volunteer

Despite the problem only affecting between 100 and 200 people per year in Scotland, there is now a backlog of about 2,000 donors who have been stopped from giving blood.

Dr Michael Turnbull, an author from East Lothian who has the highly sought after universal blood type O Rhesus, said he was angry and upset that he had been stopped from giving blood because his mother was Brazilian.

The 65-year-old, who could give blood until he is 70-years-old, said: "I have fought so many hurdles to give blood over the years because of this problem.

"So you can imagine how I felt when I had the English test and was negative but I'm still being barred from giving blood in Scotland.

"It is a ridiculous situation which makes me feel even more annoyed when I see adverts asking for blood donors and I receive leaflets telling me how important my blood type is."

Strict quality control

Dr Jack Gillon, Blood Donor Service for Scotland clinical director, said they were trying to find a solution to the problem.

"We are desperate to get a test for the Chagas disease. Initially we thought it was a good idea to plug into the test which is available south of the border but then we realised we had jumped the gun a bit.

"It is a strict quality control issue as it involved punching in numbers manually. It isn't that we don't trust the English test it is rather that the way to bring the results back up here is not good enough.

"We are looking into implementing the test in Scotland but we are only dealing with a small number of people each year. Ultimately its a cost effectiveness issue.

"We are looking at offering a temporary service to cover the 2,000 or so backlog."