Donor has nowhere to donate
Carlton Richards has too much iron in his blood.
His condition, called haemochromatosis, is a genetic disorder that affects him the same as if he were anaemic.
The bathroom design company co-owner said he gets tired and ‘‘grey’’ and needs to give blood every three months to get rid of the extra iron that his body produces.
‘‘It’s a hereditary thing, it is quite common,’’ Richards said.
‘‘You get too much iron and you feel the same way and so you also feel metallic and tingly and all sorts of other weird things.’’
Richards used to donate blood whenever he started to feel like his body needed it.
‘‘It was very convenient to go to the blood service ... They got iron rich blood ... it was a win-win,’’ he said.
But since the New Zealand Blood Service centre in Nelson closed three years go he has been forced to go to a GP who has no alternative but to dispose of his blood.
Last week the NZBS put out a call across the nation for 10,000 donors to step up and give blood for the first time.
However, Richards said a lack of a service in Nelson had lead to a ‘‘dumb’’ and ‘‘inefficient’’ system for blood donation.
The campaign, #MissingType, is a global initiative to get more A and O blood donors. In New Zealand the blood service wants to have 10,000 more first-time donors register.
The only way to donate blood in Nelson, Marlborough and the West Coast is to wait for a mobile service based in Christchurch to arrive.
However, the last time the bus visited Nelson was in July and it is not scheduled to come back before the new year.
Richards was against the centre leaving Nelson at the time and he hasn’t changed his mind.
‘‘They probably haven’t saved a cent in the process,’’ he said.
Whereas it used to be free to have his blood removed by NZBS, now the Government is charged high professional rates for doctors and specialists.
He was also disappointed that he wasn’t told when the mobile service was in town and where it would be based.
‘‘When the bus comes, the blood service need to get hold of the database and promote that process again and wherever it’s parked up.
‘‘It needs to be here longer than a day. It needs to be here for a week at different venues,’’ he said.
Nelson GP spokesman Dr Graham Loveridge said it was ‘‘unfortunate’’ that the blood taken from people with haemochromatosis in Nelson was discarded.
‘‘They need to have blood taken off them which then reduces their iron stores back to healthy levels.
‘‘Unfortunately because this happens at a regular practice at regular intervals, it’s not linked with the blood transfusion service at all and that blood is discarded.’’
When the Nelson centre closed in 2013 NZBS chief executive Fiona Ritsma said the move was necessary because district health boards across New Zealand were experiencing a decline in demand for red blood cells.
NZBS did not respond to a request for comment.
The closest place the bus will be visiting in the near future is Blenheim which will home the mobile unit for three days at the end of September.