Blood not needed if you're gay: The stigma attached to Mumbai blood banks
Despite a landmark verdict on Section 377 by the Supreme Court, which decriminalised gay sex in the country, the Maharashtra arm of National Blood Transfusion Council (NBTC) recently issued a newly-updated blood donor screening questionnaire to Mumbai-based blood banks. The new questionnaire, designed on the lines of developed nations, will now mandate the blood collectors to ask the male donors about their sexual behaviour and whether they have multiple partners or engaged in the male-to-male sexual activity. For decades, the ban on homosexuals to donate blood exists in India and those who are at high risk of suffering from prolonged diseases such as cancer, allergies, respiratory ailments and organ failure are also not allowed to donate blood. ALSO READ: Blood banks gasp for oxygen, India sees shortage of 1.9 mn units in 2016-17 NBTC’s 2017 revised guidelines, on the selection of blood donors reiterate that transgenders, bisexual men and female sex workers can never don