BANGALORE: Although dermatologists have a list of do’s and don’ts for body art, especially tattoos, doctors have now announced that people having tattoos cannot donate blood soon after they are inked.Bowing to hygiene reasons, doctors have restricted ‘inked bodies’ from donating blood immediately after getting the tattoo.“In cases of emergency, people rush in to hospitals to donate blood, unaware of their health status. There are several instances when people go to donate blood, but fail at primary tests. Hence, our community is interacting with the youth to create awareness,” said Harsha, secretary and an emergency coordinator, Karnataka Vidyarti Koota, a community which is creating awareness amongst blood donators.Talking to Express he recalls an incident when a student’s blood was rejected for similar reason.“A few months ago a college student came to Kidwai hospital to donate blood to a four- year-old child. Though the blood group was A-ve, a very rare group of blood, the student’s blood was rejected since the student had a tattoo, which was done only a month ago. People who get a tattoo done are not eligible to donate blood, at least till six months after it’s done.”Dr Pradeep R, pathologist, Indiragandhi Institute of Child Health, said, “Needles are used for tattoos, which can be contaminated because of common use.Hence, such people’s blood is rejected.The tattoo trend has increased immensely and it’s risky to use such blood.” Deepak Suman, coordinator, Lions Blood Bank said, “We avoid taking blood from people having tattoo as there health concerns involved. Many tattoo parlours use common syringe and it will take a lot of time to diagnose an infection. As per National Aids Control Organisation’s guidelines we take blood from such people only after six months.”
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