Dr Arun V J: Hospitals Don’t Sell Your Blood – They Preserve It to Save Lives
Dr Arun V J, The Leader of Transfusion Medicine at Malabar Medical College, posted on LinkedIn:
”Are Hospitals Secretly Selling Your Blood? The Truth No One Told You.”
Have you ever donated blood and wondered…
“If I gave it for free, why does the hospital still charge patients for it?”
This single question has stopped thousands of people from donating again.
It spreads like wildfire – in WhatsApp groups, tea stalls, and even hospital waiting rooms.
But here’s the truth:
Hospitals don’t sell your blood.
They recover the cost of making it safe enough to save lives.
When you donate blood, it doesn’t just sit in a fridge waiting for someone to need it.
It goes through a long, expensive, and life-saving journey:
– Special medical-grade bags (not ordinary plastic)
– Donor health screening
– Testing for HIV, Hepatitis B and C, and more
– Processing into 3 components – Red Cells, Plasma, and Platelets
– Ultra-cold storage at –80°C (colder than Antarctica)
– 24/7 monitoring by trained staff
By the time that blood reaches a patient, it’s not just blood anymore –
It’s a carefully preserved lifeline.
So when hospitals charge, they’re not charging for your kindness.
They’re charging for the safety, technology, and human effort that keep that kindness pure.
Cutting corners here would mean risking infections like HIV or losing precious units to spoilage.
Next time someone says,
“Why donate when hospitals sell it anyway?”
Tell them this:
“They don’t sell blood. They preserve it.”
Your free donation is still the purest gift of life.
And one unit can still save three people.
What do you think – should hospitals make this process more transparent so donors understand where their contribution goes?
Let’s start that conversation.
Because awareness saves more lives than any machine ever could.
Dr Aboobacker Mohamed Rafi, AABB, International Society of Blood Transfusion (ISBT), Indian Society of Blood Transfusion and Immunohaematology (ISBTI), Antonio Paul, Fonkou Steve, Sanal Nair, Terumo India, Terumo Blood and Cell Technologies, Abbott, QuidelOrtho, Roche, Hemogenomics, World Health Organization, Mylab Discovery Solutions Pvt. Ltd.
Read more here.”
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