Life-saving deed: Dzulkefly said Malaysia needs more blood donors to ensure adequate supply to meet the nation’s daily demand of at least 2,000 bags of blood.
KUALA LUMPUR: Those who donate blood more than 100 times are now entitled to free outpatient and dental treatment as well as admission to a first-class ward at government health facilities for a period of 20 years.
After the 20-year period is up, they will be entitled to free dental and medical treatment for life in a second-class ward.
Health director-general Datuk Dr Muhammad Radzi Abu Hassan, in a ministry circular, said these improved benefits have been introduced to encourage more people to donate blood.
“There has been a significant increase in the number of donors from the year 2007 till 2019, but the Covid-19 pandemic reversed this. Therefore, we need new strategies to ensure we always have a sufficient supply of blood to treat patients,” he said in the directive.He said it is important to have an adequate, safe and quality blood supply to treat and save the lives of patients involved in various medical situations such as motor accidents, bleeding during childbirth, chronic diseases such as thalassemia, cancer or kidney failure as well as for those undergoing complex surgery.
The ministry had since 2005 been giving incentives to blood donors but they were not given dental treatment and were required to pay for X-ray procedures and surgeries.
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Also, there were no added incentives for those donating blood more than 75 times or 100 times.
Under an improved structure, the benefits for those who donate blood between one and more than 50 times remain the same, with the exception that they are now entitled to free dental treatment and will not be charged for X-ray procedures or if they are required to undergo surgery.
Those who donate blood between one and five times, for example, are eligible for free outpatient and inpatient treatment in a second-class ward for four months.
Those who donate blood between six and 30 times will among others be entitled to free treatment at a second-class ward between six months and three years depending on the number of times they did so, while those who do so between 31 and 50 times will get free first-class treatment between four and six years.
Those who donate more than 50 times are also given free outpatient and dental treatment and admission to a first-class ward for a period of 10 years.
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They will also be entitled to free treatment for life at the second class after the first 10-year-period is up.
Dr Muhammad Radzi said under the new structure, those who donate blood between 76 and 100 times will be entitled to free outpatient, dental and inpatient treatment in a first-class ward for 15 years.
After the 15-year period is up, they will be eligible for free treatment in a second-class ward for life.
However, if the donors need to be admitted, they will only get the beds subject to availability. If there are no vacant beds in the first-class wards, for example, they can be placed in the second class.
In March, Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said Malaysia needs more blood donors to maintain a “safe zone” of blood stock to meet the nation’s daily demand of at least 2,000 blood bags.
He said the ministry would intensify efforts to promote such campaigns, a collaborative initiative involving the ministry, National Blood Centre and St John Ambulance of Malaysia.
Dzulkefly also said the country needs additional blood supplies even though the blood bank has sufficient stock.
In the Klang Valley alone, there has been an increase in demand from 500 to 700 units per day over the last two years.
This is attributed not only to motor vehicle accidents but also to the rising number of transfusion-dependent patients.
