Dec 12, 2013
The outrage about the blocked blood donation is fake but potentially positive
The situation with the blood donation of MK Pnina Tamno-Shata is all a staged farce, but hopefully it will serve a purpose and good will come out of it.
the Knesset had a blood donation day, bringing in MDA to run it. MDA, following its long-standing policy, told Tamno-Shata, an Ethiopian-Israel (is that the right term?), that she should not bother donating blood, as it could not be used. If she would want to donate anyway that would be fine, but she should know in advance that her blood would not be used.
This, understandably, generated outrage in the Knesset. The blood drive was halted, MDA was sent away, and everyone is now jumping all over MDA for being racist.
I say this was staged because MDA is not really at fault, and not necessarily racist (meaning, I don't know if the people formulating policy are racist or not, but this incident does not indicate that they are). MDA does not even set this policy - it was set long ago by the Ministry of Health. The Minister of Health (Yael Gherman) has expressed outrage at the situation - MK Tamno-Shata is from the same party, Yesh Atid, as she herself is from, yet the truth is that Gherman is the one currently responsible for this decision. Instead of outrage, Gherman could just go and change the rule. it is in her hands, not MDAs.
The rule MDA follows is that they cannot take blood from anyone who has lived for a certain period of time in any country (there is a list) in which HIV, and some other diseases, is prevalent. Ethiopian is one of the countries on the list, as is Great Britain, among other countries. Tamno-Shata went to this blood drive in the Knesset knowing that rule very well. She herself led a protest against MDA over this very same issue about 7 years ago. She was not surprised when she was told her blood could not be used.
So the outrage is being staged.
However, the outrage, as fake as it is, will hopefully have a good result. This policy has been in place for a long time. Perhaps it is time to review it. I would not be surprised to find out that since it was instituted it has never been reviewed to see if it is effective, if it is still relevant and/or if it is still necessary. Hopefully this outrage, fake as it is, will be the spark that gets this rule reviewed - if it is found to be ineffective and purposeless, it should be changed, adjusted, amended or canceled. If it is doing the job it was meant to do, it should be kept, adjusted and strengthened. I do not believe it is a racist law by its very being, but it does need to be reviewed.
the Knesset had a blood donation day, bringing in MDA to run it. MDA, following its long-standing policy, told Tamno-Shata, an Ethiopian-Israel (is that the right term?), that she should not bother donating blood, as it could not be used. If she would want to donate anyway that would be fine, but she should know in advance that her blood would not be used.
This, understandably, generated outrage in the Knesset. The blood drive was halted, MDA was sent away, and everyone is now jumping all over MDA for being racist.
I say this was staged because MDA is not really at fault, and not necessarily racist (meaning, I don't know if the people formulating policy are racist or not, but this incident does not indicate that they are). MDA does not even set this policy - it was set long ago by the Ministry of Health. The Minister of Health (Yael Gherman) has expressed outrage at the situation - MK Tamno-Shata is from the same party, Yesh Atid, as she herself is from, yet the truth is that Gherman is the one currently responsible for this decision. Instead of outrage, Gherman could just go and change the rule. it is in her hands, not MDAs.
The rule MDA follows is that they cannot take blood from anyone who has lived for a certain period of time in any country (there is a list) in which HIV, and some other diseases, is prevalent. Ethiopian is one of the countries on the list, as is Great Britain, among other countries. Tamno-Shata went to this blood drive in the Knesset knowing that rule very well. She herself led a protest against MDA over this very same issue about 7 years ago. She was not surprised when she was told her blood could not be used.
So the outrage is being staged.
However, the outrage, as fake as it is, will hopefully have a good result. This policy has been in place for a long time. Perhaps it is time to review it. I would not be surprised to find out that since it was instituted it has never been reviewed to see if it is effective, if it is still relevant and/or if it is still necessary. Hopefully this outrage, fake as it is, will be the spark that gets this rule reviewed - if it is found to be ineffective and purposeless, it should be changed, adjusted, amended or canceled. If it is doing the job it was meant to do, it should be kept, adjusted and strengthened. I do not believe it is a racist law by its very being, but it does need to be reviewed.
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Do I understand you correctly that if a white Jew from Britain wanted to donate blood it would would be turned away under the same policy?
ReplyDeleteOr, for that matter, an Ashkenazi Israeli Jew that spent a couple of years in an African country where AIDS is prevavlnt?
If so, then the policy is hardly racist.
If so, the policy is hardly racist
If he had lived there between certain years, yes.
DeleteThe reason that people from UK can't donate blood is because of the Mad Cow Disease that scared everyone - moooo!
ReplyDeleteIt would seem that then Canada is racist, too, based on its policies listed here.
ReplyDeleteLapid came out very strongly about this item, and said if someone needs to be fired, they will be fired. Of course, many reporters from his 'branjza' did not remind him that the Minister of Health is from his party.
ReplyDeleteIn another article, Mada stated that this MoK initiated dialogue over six months ago, so they are surprised of the provocation now.
The country is being run by young amateurs, with media advisers, looking for airtime and buzz.
Oh, and the policy has been reviewed a few times already. There was a much bigger scandal only a few years ago about MADA literally throwing away Ethiopian blood so the policy was revived to notify the donors beforehand. The policy is intact and includes other higher-risk sectors. The media buzz dies down, because the Ministry of Health reconfirms the policy.
ReplyDeleteI would want to know if this makes all ex-Ethiopians automatically eligible for the blood insurance that the rest of us get only if someone in our immediate family donates blood once a year.