‘Mbeki blood destroyed on race grounds’

Blood donated by South African President Thabo Mbeki was destroyed because he did not complete a mandatory questionnaire and his race placed him in a high-risk category, a newspaper reported on Sunday.

A row erupted last week between the South African National Blood Service (SANBS) and the government following revelations the SANBS was incinerating blood donated by Blacks because of a perceived high HIV prevalence rate among this group. On Friday, the SANBS agreed to stop using racial profiling as a blood risk indicator. An estimated one in nine South Africans is infected with HIV/AIDS.

The Sunday Independent said in 2001 the President donated blood, and that his medical adviser had asked for a special dispensation that would allow him not to complete the mandatory questionnaire.

‘‘We have a very strict protocol to follow,’’ said SANBS director of technical services Ravi Reddy. ‘‘We had to take a decision whether to abort bleeding the President, or to draw blood and then dispose of it.” But the paper said even if Mbeki had completed the questionnaire, his blood would have been destroyed because he is Black.