Comment on “Donated” plasma today
polystruct@lemmy.world 3 days agoIn Belgium, you need to wait two weeks before donating again (plasma and platelets, 2 months for blood). I regularly donate platelets, and sometimes plasma if the platelet slots are all occupied.
We get thank-you receipts (or public transportation ones) which we can turn in for some goodies. I hoard them up until I can get two tickets for an amusement park that I can visit with my daughter.
I don’t know if getting paid for it would be better or more appreciated. I feel that it could lead to more abuse? I am much more happy to know I’m donating for a good cause…
v4ld1z@lemmy.zip 3 days ago
Sadly, I used to not have the luxury of donating plasma for the sake of it but at times required it to pay for bills and groceries. It’s a little better right now, but it’s still not ideal.
I’m sure there are others like me who can definitely use the money. It’s a noble idea that people would donate for the sake of it, but it’s unlikely and plain unrealistic that people are altruistic enough to do so. It’s fine to incentivise them for it in my books.
The company behind the facility uses the plasma to produce drugs and probably gain way more from the single donation than the donor does in terms of money. The least they can do is pay people for their donations. I’ve had a pretty big discussion on this topic around a year ago or so where people from the US, for example, chimed in and said that they’d get more than 100$ per donation. Insane compared to the 25€ we get here. So even these 25€ that are frowned on by some are nothing for how much blood plasma is actually worth.
It’s awesome that you’re in a position where you’re not “forced” to donate anything for money, but the reality is that there are loads of people who rely on that additional income and use the opportunity where possible.