“How the End of Epidemic Threat Affects Blood Donation and PKP Train Travel Discounts”

The problem was revealed by statistics on blood donation. In 2019, the last one before the appearance of the coronavirus, almost 1,300,000 downloads were made. 800 donations of whole blood and its components. A year later, this number dropped to just over 1,185,000. donations, to grow in the following years and exceed the result from 2019.

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After July 1 blood donors will not be able to take advantage of the discount on PKP train travel. This interpretation of the regulations was confirmed by the Ministry of Health in response to questions from money.pl.

The condition for taking advantage of the 33% concession for travel in domestic public transport by donors is the current state of epidemic threat or the state of epidemic. If there is no state of epidemic threat or state of epidemic, there will be no legal grounds to take advantage of the relief – explain Ministry of Health.

This decision is so painful that in July the holiday season kicks off. During the upcoming holidays, however, blood donors will not take advantage of cheaper travel, unless they plan their departure and return for June.

However, there is also good news. However, the two-day off after donating blood will stay for longer. The rulers have amended the act on public blood service in such a way that the provision on a day off on the day of donation and on the day following it will be permanent in Polish law, regardless of whether the state of epidemic threat or the state of epidemic has been announced in the country.

The blood donor community does not hide the disappointment with the government’s decision to resign from the discount on train travel. A representative of the blood donor portal.org admitted that the site’s administrators had received many negative comments on this matter.

The donors in the messages sent to us wrote that they were happy to use the discount and were disappointed that it was being liquidated. It should be noted, however, that the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Ministry of Health they do not say “hard no” to introducing such a discount after the end of the state of epidemic threat – says Marcin Lesiak from the Blood Giver.org portal in an interview with money.pl.

However, there was a discussion in the community as to whether the possible 33% discount should be available to all blood donors, or whether it should be made conditional on additional criteria, such as the degree of the Merit Honorary Blood Donor (ZHDK) award. – There are many ideas. The donors themselves sent a few of them as part of the work on the law on blood donation and blood therapy. The question is how the management of individual ministries will respond to them – notes our interlocutor.

He also emphasizes that although extending the relief would be an additional incentive to donate blood, it reduces the state’s budget revenues. Finally, he concludes that even if the lack of relief does not translate significantly into a decrease in the number of blood donors, it will certainly cause disappointment in the environment.

According to the regulations, a blood donor can deduct PLN 130 for 1 liter of blood, and PLN 200 for a liter of plasma with antibodies produced as a result of the immunization procedure. At the same time, the limit of its deduction is 6%. income. The amount of relief must be calculated individually by each blood donor pursuant to Art. 11 sec. 2 of the Act on public blood service and liters of donated blood or its components. There are also a few other details that the blood donor should take into account when making the payment.