Voluntary donors-need for a second look.

Voluntary non-remunerated blood donation is the source of the safest blood supply to the transfusion service. In the Indian set up where voluntary donations are fewer and poorly structured, safety of blood could still be compromised. This study was carried out to find out the seroprevalence of transfusion transmitted diseases among replacement and voluntary donors. A retrospective study of replacement and voluntary donors over a three and a half year period was carried out and the seroprevalence for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B, hepatitis C, syphilis and malaria was noted. A total of 41122 donors were studied comprising of 94.7% replacement and 5.3% voluntary donors. The prevalence of transfusion transmitted diseases was marginally higher among voluntary donors (3.3%) as compared to replacement donors (2.9%). All cases of HIV were seen in the replacement donors while the figures for hepatitis B and C were marginally higher in the voluntary donors (p>0.05). Voluntary donations in our study were not voluntary in the real sense. There is a need to work on building a stronger voluntary donor base and to create awareness among the populace in order to gradually abolish the replacement donations; thereby ensuring the safety of blood and its products.