Annual quotas for blood donations from employees in government bodies in Beijing have been scrapped.

It follows a huge rise in the number of people in the capital coming forward to voluntarily donate blood.

The city's legislature announced this on Tuesday, saying it meant Beijing's Blood Donation Regulation, which came into effect eight years ago, is no longer compulsory to workers in government bodies and State-run non-profit organizations at municipal level or below.

"Blood provided by volunteer donors from all walks of life should be able to meet the clinic demand in the coming years," said Jin Dapeng, director of Beijing Municipal Public Health Bureau.

Blood given by volunteers has seen a great increase since 2000, with 45,000 bags being added to the blood bank each year. Each bag contains 200 millilitres of blood.

According to Jin, blood from organized donation now makes up only 12 per cent of that used in clinics, from about 89 per cent in previous years.

On average, Beijing requires about 84 tons of blood for clinic use every year.

Launched to guarantee blood supplies in 1998, the local regulation was made in accordance with the Blood Donation Law, implemented in 1997.

Under Beijing's regulation, State-run bodies or organizations were required to encourage and organize their staff to donate blood, with the quota being at least two in every 100 employees every year.

College students were also strongly recommended to donate at least once during their campus life.

"Now the policy has been abolished, however, it doesn't mean the end of wanting and encouraging contributions we made the amendment because we've seen more and more residents joining the donating team spontaneously," said Jiang Jingbo, an official with the Standing Committee of the Beijing Municipal People's Congress.

According to a source close to the legislature, policies adopted in the past to encourage blood donation, including paid leave and subsidies to organized donors, will also be abolished.

Along with the removal of the fixed-donor policy, the city is considering establishing a blood donor database, consisting of about 50,000 volunteer profiles, in a bid to meet any urgent blood use.

(China Daily 03/30/2006 page3)