Illicit market for human blood is flourishing in Venezuela amid economic collapse
In Venezuela selling blood is illegal. However, due to a combination of desperate patients and impoverished doctors, it means that the practice has become normal.
A patient entered the operating theatre in Caracas three times only to be informed at the last minute that life-saving surgery was not possible due to a lack of blood. The patient's family went to one of the few private clinics that does have supplies, and bought four bags. Each 250ml costs about £2. This is more than Venezuela’s monthly minimum salary.
A member of the patient's family spoke to the news website Efecto Cocuyo: “I’m not happy with what I did, but I had to do it because my dad could die.”
There are 344 blood banks in Venezuela and 70 per cent of them are in crisis, according to the Society of Haematology. As a result of a lack of the reagents used to screen whether the blood is safe from diseases such as hepatitis or HIV, which only the Ministry of Health can supply, it means that even with adequate donations most blood is going to waste.
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