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Hospital accused of 'prejudice' after rejecting gay patients in coronavirus trial

George Martin
·2 min read
LONDON, ENGLAND - JANUARY 03: An ambulance sits outside the Accident and Emergency department of Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital on January 3, 2018 in London, England. Hospitals in the UK have been advised to postpone all non-urgent operations until the end of January as the NHS struggles to cope with the surge in patients over the winter period. (Photo by Jack Taylor/Getty Images)
Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital reportedly rejected plasma samples from gay and bisexual patients. (Getty)

A London hospital has been accused of “prejudice” by not allowing gay or bisexual men to donate plasma for a coronavirus trial.

Doctors at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital are attempting to use a groundbreaking “convalescent plasma” treatment to cure coronavirus, according to ITV News.

But the hospital is reportedly rejecting plasma samples from men who have had sex with another man within the past three months, similar to the current rules for donating blood.

Gay rights activist Peter Tatchell tweeted: “Gay & bisexual men in the UK are being excluded from a new blood plasma trial to help treat coronavirus = PREJUDICE!

ERLANGEN, GERMANY - APRIL 27: A medical researcher at the German Center for Immunity Therapy (das Deutsche Zentrum Immuntherapie, or DZI) holds a bag containing blood plasma from a recovered Covid-19 patient at the University Hospital Erlangen during the novel coronavirus crisis on April 27, 2020 in Erlangen, Germany. The DZI is among several research facilities across Germany conducting research and tests over whether blood plasma that contains the antibodies from recovered Covid-19 patients might provide a therapy for other Covid-19 patients still battling with the disease. Germany currently has over 150,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19 infection, 103,000 people have recovered and approximately 6,000 people have died. (Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)
A bag containing a plasma sample for use in attempting to treat coronavirus. (Getty)

“The ban is based on the mistaken assumption that they are all at risk of HIV. Not so. Many have only safe sex & have tested HIV negative.”

While Gay Times journalist Tom Knight said: “The government reminding us once again they see gay men differently by imposing a ban on us donating plasma in the fight against COVID-19 if we’ve been sexuality active within the last 3 months.

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“These policies are outdated and completely discriminatory, just like donating blood.”

The NHS’s current blood donation guidelines state that "men who have sex with men are at an increased risk of acquiring certain infections through sex".

Current Department of Health guidelines also exclude any man who has had sex with another man within the past three months from donating their plasma.

A spokesperson for the NHS Blood and Transplant service said: “We will initially be using the current donor selection guidelines although we will keep this under review."

A spokesperson added: "The guidelines are there to protect the health of the donor and the recipient.

"Under the current guidelines, men must wait three months after having oral or anal sex with another man. We appreciate this deferral can feel disappointing if you want to save lives.

"Separately to the convalescent plasma trial, we are working with LGBT+ groups to explore whether we might be able to introduce a more individualised risk assessment for blood donation.”

Yahoo News UK has contacted Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital for comment.

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