Ulster Unionist Health spokesperson, Jo-Anne Dobson MLA, has welcomed the lifting of the lifetime ban on gay and bisexual men donating blood in Northern Ireland.
Jo-Anne Dobson MLA said:
“Northern Ireland has been left trailing behind the rest of the United Kingdom on this issue for far too long.
“Since it was confirmed that the ban was to remain in place in Northern Ireland following the move to a twelve-month deferral period in England, Scotland and Wales in 2011, the Ulster Unionist Party has been clear that the medical evidence alone should dictate what restrictions were placed on the donation of MSM blood.
“We regularly hear appeals from the Northern Ireland Blood Transfusion Service for donations, indicating we should be doing everything possible to encourage and facilitate the donation of blood. But instead we have been left in the utterly ridiculous situation where we have been importing blood from Great Britain that is subject to the twelve-month deferral period, but turning willing potential donors away in Northern Ireland.
“We will be interrogating what has changed for the DUP and Sinn Fein Executive to now be able to agree to this change in policy.”