The blood system is changing in Ukraine. What does this mean?

7 March 2025 23:17

The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has decided to reform the national blood system.

This was reported by the Ministry of Health, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.

The ministry notes that the changes include a new funding model, clear rules of interaction between hospitals and blood centers, and the transition to European standards in the field of transfusion.

What will change for hospitals:

hospitals will determine their annual blood donation needs, and blood centers will provide them free of charge;
The Ministry of Health will set reference prices for blood, which will prevent overpricing and make funding transparent;
local governments will be able to provide additional funding to blood centers if their efficiency is below the norm;
transfusion committees will be established in each hospital to control blood stocks and its use;
hospital transfusion departments will be transformed into blood banks, and only certified centers will produce blood;
hospitals that do not establish transfusion committees and implement the necessary procedures will not be able to provide blood transfusions;
the National Transfusion Center will control the entire system.

What will change for patients:

blood and its components will be provided free of charge to patients in state and municipal hospitals;
in private clinics that have signed contracts with the National Health Service, blood transfusions will also be free of charge;
relatives of patients will not have to search for donors or buy blood on their own.

Last year, as part of European integration, the government approved new rules for working with donated blood.

They apply to its collection, testing, storage, processing and distribution, regardless of the purpose for which it will be used. These rules will come into force in June this year.

Who can become a blood donor?
Healthy people aged 18 and over and weighing 50 kg can donate blood in Ukraine (some centers accept blood from 55-60 kg).

Donors must also have no contraindications. If a person has a chronic disease, is taking medication, or is registered with a medical institution, they cannot donate temporarily or at all.

Contraindications for donating blood and its components

Regardless of the duration of the disease and the results of treatment, people with the following contraindications cannot be blood donors.

Infectious and parasitic diseases

AIDS, HIV infection, congenital or acquired syphilis, viral hepatitis, positive test results for viral hepatitis markers, all forms of tuberculosis, brucellosis, typhoid, tularemia, leprosy, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, echinococcosis, toxoplasmosis, filariasis, scabies, leishmaniasis.

Somatic diseases

malignant neoplasms, blood diseases, organic diseases of the central nervous system, complete absence of hearing and (or) speech, mental illness, drug addiction, alcoholism, cardiovascular diseases (hypertension of II-III degree, coronary heart disease, atherosclerosis, arrhythmias, thrombophlebitis, heart defects);
respiratory diseases (bronchial asthma, bronchiectasis, pulmonary emphysema, obstructive bronchitis, pneumosclerosis)
diseases of the digestive system (achilles gastritis, gastric ulcer and duodenal ulcer);
diseases of the liver and biliary tract (chronic liver diseases, including those of toxic nature and unclear etiology, calculous cholecystitis, liver cirrhosis);
kidney disease (diffuse and focal kidney damage, urolithiasis);
diseases of the connective tissue, radiation sickness, diseases of the endocrine system, diseases of the ENT organs (osena, other acute and chronic severe purulent-inflammatory diseases), eye diseases (high myopia – 5 diopters or more, trachoma, complete blindness, residual effects of uveitis);
skin diseases (psoriasis, erythroderma, eczema, lupus erythematosus, blistering dermatoses, widespread fungal and pustular lesions)
osteomyelitis, surgical interventions for amputation or resection of an organ and transplantation of organs and tissues.