The price of blood donor cards is surging on the black market in Beijing as desperate families seek access to blood in the midst of a national blood shortage. Blood donors in Beijing receive more than some free cookies and a sense of altruism when they donate blood – they also receive special “donor cards” that grant donors and their family members priority access and reduced cost for donated blood and blood transfusions.
These cards incentivize blood donation, but for those who are unable to donate due to health issues or other limitations, cards are available on the black market – if you’re willing to pay. The price for one card typically ranges from RMB3000 to RMB10000.
A Beijing morning news reporter recently spent several hours near a Chaoyang blood donation center speaking with sellers and potential buyers of blood donor cards. One buyer, Wang Dong (not his real name), brought his four-year-old daughter to Beijing from their hometown in Shandong to seek medical treatment, only to find that it was impossible to get his daughter the blood she needed. So he turned to the black market. For a 15-minute wait and RMB1500 (demand was low that day, prices dropped accordingly), the father had a blood donor card that would get his daughter the care she needed.
Another man waiting to buy a donor card, Song Zuguang, had been told he was high enough on the blood donation wait list to receive blood, unlike Wang’s daughter, but Song did not have the money to pay for the transfusion. Without a blood donor card, receiving a blood transfusion comes with heavy fees attached – fees for transportation and storage of the blood, among other things. So even for those with access to blood, the cost can be prohibitive without a donor card.
The process for acquiring a black market card is simple enough – once a black marketeer has found a buyer, he sends one of his many associates in to donate blood. These associates donate as often as 15 times a month. (The Red Cross regulations advise donating no more than once every 60 days.) These associates use the buyer’s name and ID number, and are issued a donor card in the name of the buyer. The card is then turned over for an often-steep price. But for a desperate father like Wang Dong, no price is too high for the health of his child.
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