News and articles

The Blood Service is proposing to relax the deferral rule for men who have sex with men (MSM) so that a history of male-to-male sexual activity would no longer automatically disqualify a prospective blood donor. An official regulation to change the policy is being drafted at the moment.

The Finnish Red Cross Blood Service (FRCBS) is set to open a donor centre in the Jumbo/Flamingo shopping and entertainment centre in Vantaa in early 2024. The new site will replace the Kivihaka donor centre in Helsinki. The Vantaa centre will cater for both conventional blood donation and thrombapheresis, which is a special technique for collecting platelets.

Minna Mäki (PhD) has been named director of research, product development and new services at the Blood Service. She takes up her new position on 22 May 2023.

The Blood Service Annual Report for 2022 has been published. You will find all the key figures and statistics concerning Finnish Red Cross Blood Service and an overview of the most important changes and events that took place last year.

The Blood Service investigates donors’ customer experiences each year. Last year, almost 3200 first-time donors from all over Finland responded to the survey. According to the results, new blood donors have an excellent customer experience.

It is important that enough donors lend a helping hand on the days leading up to and immediately after Easter. The Blood Service centres are open on weekdays and on Easter Monday, the 10th of April.

Johanna Castrén (M.D.) has been appointed as the director of blood donation operations at the Blood Service and as a member of the Management Group.

At the end of 2022, the Finnish Red Cross Blood Service (FRCBS) moved to new, modern premises in Vehkala, Vantaa, along the Kehä III ring road. Roche delivered Blood Service an automated sample processing line and equipment used in carrying out the necessary infection screening of blood donor samples. The new laboratory automation and analysis solution is the first of its kind, also on a global scale.

At the moment, only 3.5% of Finns donate blood. Blood donors are a key part of disaster preparedness, as they allow the Blood Service to deliver blood products to hospitals.

Call for applications for grants of the Blood Service Research Fund opens on 6 February 2023. The primary aim of the Fund is to support research related to the current and possible future products and services of the Finnish Red Cross Blood Service. The application period is from 6 February to 31 March 2023.

Year 2023 marks the 75th anniversary of the start of operations of Finnish Red Cross Blood Service. The systemic collection of blood began in Finland during the war years. Established in 1948, the Blood Service has been responsible for the national blood supply chain with voluntary donors for decades, for the benefit of the patients.

In organ and stem cell transplantation, the compatibility of the tissues between the patient and the donor plays an important role in the success of the transplantation. As part of the research for her doctoral dissertation, Tiira Johansson and her collaborators have developed new laboratory methods to support the research on tissue typing and cancer treatment.