Mr McCallister commented;
“I am disappointed that the Health Minister has announced he will not be lifting the ban on gay and bi-sexual men donating blood in Northern Ireland. Considering the strong medical evidence in support of lifting the ban, it is bewildering that the Minister should take this stance – especially when the demand for blood has never been higher. In Northern Ireland, around 500 people need to accept lifesaving blood every week and to meet this demand we need around 300 people to give blood each and every day.’
“In a written response to a question from Danny Kinahan MLA asking whether the ban would be lifted, the Minister said that he would not be altering the current position in Northern Ireland as relaxing the present lifetime referral would see an increased risk of contracting the HIV infection.’
“What the Minister failed to highlight was that under the current United Kingdom guidelines of a 12 month deferral period before donating blood the chance of contracting HIV stands at 1 in every 4.38million donations. With a lifetime ban the risk stands at 1 in every 4.41 million donations. Given that this is such a small margin I cannot see the logic behind the Minister’s decision to turn away willing donators.’
“Given the DUP’s views on homosexuality, it would seem that the Minister’s decision has not been made as a result of the medical evidence available alone. We cannot turn willing blood donors away because of out-dated and irrational prejudice."