[NYTr] Blood sellers find market niche in Baghdad

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

IRIN via electronic Iraq - Sep 5, 2007
http://electroniciraq.net/news/newsanalysis/


Blood sellers find market niche in Baghdad 

Report, IRIN, Sep 5, 2007

BAGHDAD (IRIN) - As the Iraqi National Center for Blood Donation
(INCBD) urges Iraqis to donate more blood to help meet increasing
demand, individuals wishing to sell their blood congregate at hospitals
in the hope of being able to make some money. Those offering rare blood
types are best able to cash in.

"In many cases, desperate families look for blood sellers who can be
found around the hospital and at the [Baghdad's main] blood centre,"
Abdallah Farhan Ahmed, a surgeon at Medical City Hospital, said. "The
most expensive blood types are the rare ones and we cannot force people
to give them for free."

Ahmed said "agents" also stand in front of the INCBD offering blood.
They charge US$20-30 for every 350 cu. cm of blood. In a country where,
according to Iraq's Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, unemployment
stands at over 38 percent, the sale of blood is an attractive option
for many.

"I need to feed my family, and others need blood to save their loved
ones and it is a fair exchange. I come here every month to sell my
blood. I know I should do this less frequently but I'm unemployed and
my family needs to eat," said a blood seller who preferred anonymity.

The continuing violence in Baghdad has kept the demand for blood high:
"The increase in violence in Iraq has prevented us from storing
adequate blood supplies," said Maruan Haydar, a senior official in the
Ministry of Health.

"We are requesting donations of all types of blood... especially rare
types like AB and O," he said.

Ahmed told IRIN that at least one in five operations in the hospital
require a blood transfusion and that on many occasions they had to
postpone operations because the type of blood required was not
available.

"We perform operations only in emergencies. Heart and brain operations
are being postponed until the right blood is available - and that
sometimes might take over two weeks," Ahmed said.

Dangerous area

According to Haydar, since January 2006 the number of blood donors has
been decreasing as the level of violence has increased in the Bab
al-Muadham District of Baghdad where the INCBD has its premises.

"The centre is located in one of the most dangerous areas of the
capital and people are scared to take the risk [of going there to
donate blood] but we have to continue with our appeal," Haydar said.
"We have asked the Ministry of Interior to reinforce security in the
district to allow people to donate blood in safety, but the presence of
different militias has brought fear."

The centre has issued many appeals for blood donations in the past
three years but according to officials the problem is now critical.

Abu Muhammad Farez, 41, has been donating blood to the centre for the
past eight years but he has told IRIN that this will be his last time
as security has been deteriorating and he cannot take any more risks.

"To reach the centre I was stopped at checkpoints manned by militias
and local police... Because I have a long beard they accused me of
being a supporter of the insurgents," Farez said. "I know it is
ridiculous but they didn't believe that someone was in that area to
help other Iraqis rather than kill them."

"Unfortunately I will stop donating until I feel secure enough to
return to the centre," Farez added.


This item comes to you via IRIN, the humanitarian news and analysis
service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
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