Health Minister must end personal crusade over blood ban – McCarthy

Alliance Health spokesperson, Kieran McCarthy MLA, has called on the Health Department to call off their legal action over a court ruling that they should overturn the lifetime ban on gay men donating blood, after the BBC found that the Department has no medical reason for maintain the lifetime ban.

England, Scotland and Wales ended the lifetime ban in 2011 but it has continued in Northern Ireland. A court ruled in 2013 that such a lifetime ban was irrational. The Department is appealing this decision.

Kieran McCarthy MLA said: “We have always known that the decision by Edwin Poots and Jim Wells to maintain the lifetime ban was due to a personal crusade and this information proves that there is no medical reason to support this position.

“The Minister should stop wasting public money on this court action and immediately end this lifetime ban.

“The continued legal action over the blood ban and adoption by civil partners, compromised the position of Edwin Poots and I believe that Jim Wells’ position will become untenable if he doesn’t drop this legal action.”

ENDS