President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday urged raising the upper age limit for blood donors, “otherwise it discriminates against us [about to turn 65].”
“I pretended to be young and I donated blood,” Ma joked when he donated blood at a blood center yesterday to promote a campaign by the Taiwan Blood Service Foundation.
The campaign appeals to young people with the slogan “Young blood.”
Ma, set to turn 65 on July 13, said he has donated blood regularly since he was 20.
The slogan should be “I donate blood, therefore I am young,” he said, adding that donating blood is healthy.
Taiwan’s blood donation rate fell to 7.5 percent last year from an average of 8 percent in the past, but remains among the world’s highest, Ma said.
National Taiwan University Hospital superintendent Chang Shan-chwen (張上淳) said that, as a result of low fertility, the nation has seen a significant decline in younger blood donors over the past decade, with donations from people aged from 17 to 20 plunging to 180,000 last year from 300,000 in 2005.
People aged from 17 to 65 are allowed to donate blood.
The foundation said that people aged from 65 to 70 could donate blood after they undergo a health check from a physician, but would be limited to 750cc in donations annually, half of the yearly maximum of 1,500cc for younger donors.
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