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| Africa: Subsaharan |
| Mbeki's donated blood destroyed as a health risk |
| 2004-12-06 |
| Blood donated by President Thabo Mbeki after an urgent appeal in South Africa was destroyed because it was regarded as a health risk, it emerged yesterday. South Africa's National Blood Service incinerated Mr Mbeki's donation after the president failed to complete a compulsory questionnaire about his personal health. Mr Mbeki's aides said the president never filled in application forms and had asked for a special dispensation. But Ravi Reddy, the National Blood Service's technical director, told the Sunday Independent newspaper that the president's donation had simply been destroyed. "We had to take a decision whether to abort bleeding the president, which would have been a disaster from a publicity point of view, or whether to draw blood and then dispose of it," he said. But the Sunday Independent said there might have been a further reason for the disposal of Mr Mbeki's blood after he arrived at a clinic in Durban in December 2001. The National Blood Service incinerated many donations from black South Africans because they were considered a high Aids risk, although it had now dropped race from its risk assessments. |
| Posted by:Bulldog |
| #2 Yessir, none of that damn aids stuff down here. I recently heard a quote from this same fellow to the effect that he had never met anyone with aids. Must not get out much. Either that or he doesn't like girls, who are now the population group with the highest rate of infection. |
| Posted by: Weird Al 2004-12-06 3:13:33 PM |
| #1 I wonder if one of his staff would be willing to accept a transfusion from Mr Mbeki if they had the same type of blood, or one that would not react badly to a transfusion from him (ie. Mr Mbeki has O negative and the transfusee has AB positive). Didn't think so. |
| Posted by: Desert Blondie 2004-12-06 1:13:52 PM |