Guidelines to Railway Blood Donors

No prior permission of the Government is required for donating blood in Blood Banks attached to railway hospitals or Government hospitals or if called upon in emergencies to donate blood in any Blood Bank.

No prior permission is necessary for acceptance of an amount on account of donation of blood, since it is considered that receipts from the sale of blood does not attract the provisions of Rule RII 2035 {1334} and 2216.

When a railway employee or a member of his family donates blood to a railway hospital or a government hospital, he may receive payment at the rate of Rs. 50/- (Rupees fifty only ) per donor per bottle or blood i.e. 300 c.c. However, no incentive money should be paid to voluntary blood donors against their wishes and every effort should be made to encourage the voluntary free Blood donors.

The Railway may consider issue of cards to voluntary blood donors with the offer of free replacement if the donor needs blood transfusion for self within a period of 12 months.
(Authority: Railway Board’s letter No. 84/H/6-1/17 dated 4-6-85 and 90/H/68/3 dated 15-3-91.)

Railway employee who donates blood to a railway hospital on a working day may be granted special Casual Leave, for that day.

A railway employee who comes from out-station to donate blood to a railway hospital may be granted a complementary pass of the same class as admissible to him under the normal rules to cover the journey. He may be allowed a minimum journey time apart from one day special casual leave.

As blood is a therapeutic substance used in treatment of patients, expenditure incurred for obtaining blood shall be debited to ordinary railway revenues and allocated under the head ‘medicines’.

As far as possible, railway employees should be encouraged to donate blood voluntarily and not with any mercenary motive.

Hence there should be no occasion to force a person to accept the permissible payments.

Blood collected for use in Non-Railway hospitals should not qualify for payment from Railway revenues, even if the collection has been done in Railway premises.
(Railway Board’s letter No. 65/H/7/248 dated 5-2-1966.)