Time to close underground blood market

CHINA WILL halt its "mutual aid blood donation", except in some far-flung areas, by the end of March. Beijing Youth Daily commented on Tuesday:

"Mutual aid blood donations" refer to blood donations from relatives and friends, and they are encouraged by the Blood Donation Law of 2009 as a supplement to voluntary blood donations, which are now only sufficient to provide for needs of emergency surgery in hospitals.

Although the practice has helped to ease the shortage of donated blood in China, where only 0.87 percent of the population voluntarily gives blood, compared with the 4.54 percent in developed countries, it has spawned a huge underground market for the buying and selling of blood, which has evolved into the main source of blood for the needy.