~ 1 ~ International Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Pathology 2021; 4(2): 01-04 ISSN (P): 2617-7226 ISSN (E): 2617-7234 www.patholjournal.com 2021; 4(2): 01-04 Received: 05-01-2021 Accepted: 13-02-2021 Suchita V Deshmukh Assistant Professor, Dept. of Pathology, D.Y.Patil Medcial College, Kolhapur, Maharashtra, India Sunita B Patil Associate Professor, Dept. of Pathology, D.Y.Patil Medcial College, Kolhapur, Maharashtra, India Pradnya M Chimankar Postgraduate Student, Dept. of Pathology, D.Y.Patil Medcial College, Kolhapur, Maharashtra, India Trupti K Gade Quality Manager, Jeevandhara Blood Bank, Kolhapur, Maharashtra, India Vinayak J Deshmukh Consultant Physician, Kolhapur, Maharashtra, India Corresponding Author: Sunita B Patil Associate Professor, Dept. of Pathology, D.Y.Patil Medcial College, Kolhapur, Maharashtra, India Analysis of Blood donor deferrals in the south west region of Maharashtra: A retrospective study Suchita V Deshmukh, Sunita B Patil, Pradnya M Chimankar, Trupti K Gade and Vinayak J Deshmukh DOI: https://doi.org/10.33545/pathol.2021.v4.i2a.346 Abstract Background: Blood donation is a noble act that saves millions of lives every day. Blood donor selection is the most crucial step, not only for the safety of the donor himself but for the recipient and health care workers involved in the process of blood transfusion. During the process of donor selection, the donor can be rejected based on the temporary or permanent deferral causes, this leads to precise loss of donors and blood units. The aim of this study is to analyze the different causes for donor deferrals and deferral rates in our blood bank. Materials and Methods: A retrospective study was done from, January 2018 to December 2019, in our blood bank at Kolhapur District, Maharashtra. The data and information of deferred donors were retrieved from deferral donor register maintained by the blood bank and then analyzed further by using MS excel software. Results: A total of 13981 blood donors were registered in our Blood Bank out of which 13676 (97.81%) were males and 305 (2.18%) were females. Among 13981 blood donors, 13621 (97.42%) were accepted for blood donation and 360 (2.57%) were rejected due to various reasons. A total of 340 (94.44%) donors were deferred for temporary causes and 20 (5.55%) were deferred for permanent causes. Conclusion: Increased awareness among the voluntary donors regarding deferral criteria is necessary to decrease the deferral rate in the donor population in this particular region would help greatly in blood donor recruitment efforts, especially, temporarily deferral donors who can return back to donor pool. Though there are many studies conducted to analyze patterns of donor deferral it is necessary that every blood bank should analyze rates and patterns of donor deferral especially due to temporary reasons can be avoided by conducting awareness programs. Keywords: Blood bank, Donor, Temporary Deferrals, Permanent Deferrals Introduction Blood is a vital lifesaving fluid that can save millions of lives on day-to-day bases, that why there is a constant demand, so it is crucial to maintain the constant demand to supply ratio in both developed and developing nations. Person who is willing to donate either whole blood or blood products for the purpose of transfusion is termed as “Blood donor”. [1] Safe blood transfusion is a major concern that needs the application of science and technology to blood processing and testing, as well as requires social efforts to encourage healthy donors who are at low risk of transmitting infectious diseases to the recipients. [2] Deferrals are donors who do not meet the selection criteria should be deferred on a temporary or permanent basis according to WHO. [3] Donor deferral leads to precious loss of whole blood donors and blood units. Deferred donors are also less likely to return for blood donation in future. [4] There are many studies confirm that Blood donor deferral is a major issue in many countries in the world; it affects both low income and high-income countries. Amount of blood units wasted due to blood donor deferral is disappointing not only to the donor but also to the blood bank as whole. [1] Deferrals rejected on the bases of permanent deferral criteria should be given proper guidance and counselling to treat the underline cause and those who are rejected based on temporary deferral criteria should be educated on what was the cause for rejection and how to overcome the underlying cause. Temporarily deferred donors should be advised on when they could donate and encouraged to return. [3] Deferral rates and permanent or temporary reasons for deferral vary from one center to another. There is a need to find out exact reasons and rates of donor deferral so that we can implement more