Blood Shortage Termed Greater Peril Than AIDS

The president of a private hospital association says that a severe lack of plasma in the nation’s blood banks poses a far greater health danger than the AIDS virus.

“More people currently die from lack of blood than from AIDS,” Dr. Jesus Gomez Medina, president of the National Chamber of Private Hospitals, said Wednesday.

Medina said a law passed in May prohibiting the sale of blood was causing a plasma shortage nationwide and the creation of a dangerous black market.

Rafael Coronado Garcia, a representative of private blood banks, said the private banks will appeal the law, which he charges has driven the price of blood up from 5,000 pesos (about $3.60) for a pint to 80,000 pesos (or $57) on the black market.