Beijing has terminated blood donation quotas after being operational for nine years, ending forced blood donation in the national capital, according to a decision by the local legislature.

The 26th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 12th Beijing Municipal People's Congress, the local legislature, scrapped the Regulations on Mobilizing and Organizing Beijing Citizens to Donate Blood, which took effect in 1998, on Tuesday.

The 1998 regulations encouraged voluntary blood donation and at the same time urged governments of various levels to set blood donation quotas for social institutions and work units in the city.

After the abolition of the blood donation quotas, stipulations encouraging voluntary blood donations would continue to be effective, said Jiang Jingbo, deputy head of the education, science, culture, health and sports office of the Standing Committee of the Beijing Municipal People's Congress.

The amount of blood donated by volunteers has been on the rapid rise in Beijing in recent years, according to statistics of the Beijing Municipal Health Bureau. Beijing received 64 million cc of blood donated by volunteers last year compared with 2.8 million cc in 2000.

"The amount of blood donated by volunteers has increased by 45,000 bags annually over the past five years and is expected to surge by a large margin in the years to come," said Jing Dapeng, director of Beijing Municipal Health Bureau, saying that he was confident that donated blood could meet the demand in Beijing.

Jin said, Beijing had encouraged voluntary blood donation before 1997. However, given the huge clinical demand for blood and shortage of blood for clinical use in Beijing, the city adopted regulations in 1998 which both encouraged voluntary donation and urged local governments of various levels to set blood donation quotas for social institutions and work units.

Beijing's clinical demand for blood ranks the first in the country as many patients with serious illnesses travel across China to Beijing for treatment.

Local health bureau statistics show that Beijing's clinical use of blood rose to 84 million cc last year from 53.6 million cc in 1998, a rise of 56.7 percent. Of the 53.6 million cc of blood used in clinical treatment in 1998, only 360,000 cc came from voluntary donations, according to local media reports.

Currently, Beijing's annual clinical demand for blood stands at 84 million cc and voluntary donations accounted for about 76 percent of the city's total clinical demand for blood last year.

Beijing is considering setting up a voluntary donation team, consisting of 40,000 to 50,000 volunteers, to make up the gap, said Shi Weiwei, deputy head of Beijing Municipal Blood Donation Office.

The group of volunteers will include army men, college students and employees of government departments, social institutions and commercial businesses, Shi said.

China's Law of Blood Donation, which became effective on October 1, 1998, encourages voluntary blood donation.

Voluntary donation is believed to be the safest way to obtain blood. Experts say viruses like HIV and hepatitis are unlikely to be transmitted through voluntary donation.

To encourage voluntary donations, Beijing is considering granting preferential treatment to those who have donated blood incase they need a blood transfusion.

(Xinhua News Agency March 30, 2006)