Integrity And Quality Of Australia’s Blood Supply Must Be Protected

AMA (Australian Medical Association) President, Dr Mukesh Haikerwal, today called on the Government to ensure that the integrity and quality of Australia’s blood supply are not threatened by the Australia-US Free Trade Agreement (AUSFTA).

Dr Haikerwal was responding to fears expressed by the National Centre for Epidemiology and Public Health in an online Medical Journal of Australia article that the AUSFTA will lead to imports of blood and plasma-derived products from the USA.

Dr Haikerwal said Australia is almost self-sufficient in blood products and it needs to stay that way.

“We supply our own safe, fresh blood products in sufficient quantities – and of the highest quality – in Australia because of the goodwill of non-remunerated, volunteer donors, plus rigorous testing and processing standards,” Dr Haikerwal said.

“Importing blood from the US means importing unnecessary risks as well. The scrutiny that Australian authorities apply to our supply chain cannot be applied to products sourced offshore. For blood imports, we would need to depend upon the local compliance and enforcement programs in the US, which we cannot monitor or control.

“Blood products have inherent dangers because we can only test for illness we already understand, and take action to avoid illness through either screening of blood or declining certain high risk people as donors.

“A good example is that people who lived in the UK in the years when they might have been exposed to mad cow disease cannot give blood.

“The strict rules that are used to screen Australians before donation and their blood after donation keep the risks to a minimum. We cannot guarantee the same levels of screening for any imported blood product.

“The AMA calls on the Prime Minister and State Premiers and Chief Ministers meeting at COAG in Canberra today to rule out any possibility of opening the blood product supply to international competition.

“They must also guarantee they will make the necessary investments to secure ongoing Australia-wide blood product self sufficiency. This is the only way to guarantee the availability and quality of the blood products supplied to the Australian people,” Dr Haikerwal said.

The Australian blood supply ranges from fresh blood, which is given as a blood transfusion after significant blood loss, to products such as Factor VIII that is used by individuals with haemophilia to help their blood to clot after an injury. These specialised products are produced by a process called plasma fractionation and use a number of donations to produce a single unit of the product.

Australian Medical Association

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