If you are over 65, a doctor must give his / her condition. If you are 70 years old, it is noble. Bosse Dahlström from Åby is 65, but he must not give more blood.
- I think it's boring. I've been giving blood for ten years, he says.
In Östergötland there are about 19,000 registered blood donors. Last year, about half donated blood. But despite the lack of both blood and blood donors, Region Östergötland has since last autumn introduced an age cap to give blood, something that the newspaper Corren was the first to report. Those who are over 65 must be assessed by a physician before they are allowed to donate blood, and those over 70 must not receive any blood at all.
Of the blood donors in Östergötland, about 150 are over 70 years.
- We have to set an age limit because we are not able to give a medicine assessment of everyone we give blood. In the best of worlds, more young people would donate blood, says Birgitta Clinchy, director of clinical immunology operations at Linköping University Hospital.
Watch the entire video above.