Health Coalition condemns commercial deals by Canadian Blood Services that jeopardize Canada’s blood supply, The Canadian Business Journal

OTTAWA, Sept. 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — (Traditional and unceded territory of the Anishinabe Algonquin tribe)

The Health Federation of Canada’s provinces and territories and the Health Federation of Canada are calling for the resignation of the Canadian Blood Service (CBS) leadership, including the CEO and Board of Directors. The call comes after a terrifying decision by CBS to sign his 15-year contract to collect plasma with a for-profit international pharmaceutical company.

Instead of investing in expanding the successful publicly operated voluntary plasma collection, CBS will signed the agreement This secures private interests while jeopardizing the sustainability of Canada’s blood and plasma supply. The agreement hands over collection of the plasma to the for-profit private company Grifols. Grifols will pay donors for plasma, a practice strongly opposed by experts and public interest advocates. In fact, Grifols has a history of traveling to Mexico, loading up a bus, traveling to the United States to have plasma drawn, and returning to Mexico the same day.

The deal jeopardizes the sustainability of Canada’s blood supply by freeing up a valuable and medically important public asset for profit generation. Instead of blood being a universal and free public resource , the deal opens the door for private commercial companies to enter the blood collection system.

Importantly, this undemocratic arrangement circumvents provincial laws prohibiting private plasma payments in Ontario and British Columbia. CBS undermined existing laws and the citizens of Ontario and her BC to make unilateral decisions about the Canadian plasma supply. This is an undemocratic violation of the public trust placed in CBS to protect public blood and plasma collection systems.

The Krever Commission/Royal Commission of Inquiry on the Canadian Blood System, which led to the creation of CBS itself, noted that blood should be a public resource and that no one should be paid to donate blood or plasma. Voluntary donations have been adversely affected in states with private payments for plasma.

There are proven public and non-profit solutions to increase and protect Canada’s voluntary blood and plasma supply. I am raising it.

Charged plasma is contrary to the advice of major international medical organizations such as the World Health Organization and the European Blood Alliance.

The Canadian Health Coalition therefore called on the Minister of Health to act to protect the public system and failed to fulfill the responsibilities of CBS CEO and Board of Directors and to provide leadership in the interests of the Canadian people. I am asking to be replaced as

media contact

BC Health Coalition, Ayendri Riddell, 604-349-9079, [email protected]
Friends of Medicare (Alberta), Chris Gallaway, 780-995-6659, [email protected]
Saskatchewan Health Coalition, Juliet Bushi, 306-551-9496, [email protected]
Manitoba Health Coalition, Thomas Rener, 204-898-7002, [email protected]
Ontario Health Coalition, Natalie Mehra, 416-230-6402, [email protected]
PEI Health Coalition, Mary Boyd, 902-969-2693, [email protected]
New Brunswick Health Coalition, Bernadette Landry, 506-232-7141, [email protected]
Nova Scotia Health Coalition, Alexandra Rose, 709-454-7038, [email protected]
Canadian Health Federation, Pauline Worsfold, 780-991-5474, [email protected]

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