Steps and Requirements to Donate Plasma in Mexico

In Mexico, almost five thousand units of blood are donated daily, from which components such as plasma, one of the most valuable, are extracted. However, as in many Latin American countries, they still depend on donations from family or friends for supply and self-sufficiency.

For this reason, work is being done to raise awareness of the importance of this type of voluntary, altruistic and repeated donation as the safest source for patients who require a blood transfusion.

We hope that with this article your knowledge about the Requirements to donate plasma and motivate you to donate blood in Mexico to have this valuable resource.

Requirements to donate plasma

Documentation to donate plasma

Submit Original Voter Credential (INE) or passport or SMN card, CURRENT driver’s license with photograph.

Steps to donate plasma

the donors they must have availability of about 50 minutes: At this time, your vital signs, weight, and blood pressure are checked. Then a medical interview is done, and if you are fit, blood is drawn.

Before you donate

Keep these recommendations in mind: not fasting; it is recommended to ingest around 500 ml. of fluids before donating, drink plenty of fluids throughout the day (juices, tea, coffee), be rested, wear comfortable clothes, show up with identification.

When you arrive at the place where the donation will be made, the donor will be attended by a professional team and will receive pre-donation information. You will have an interview with trained personnel who will determine if you can take it.

All information that the donor provides is confidential. yesIf you are eligible to donate, you go to the extraction stage.

when donating

The extraction will be carried out by technical personnel following strict standards of safety, quality, hygiene and comfort. This process lasts from 50′ to 70′ in total. The extraction is not painful.

It is recommended to be calm and as relaxed as possible. If you feel any discomfort or discomfort during the donation or afterwards, it is necessary to notify the medical personnel who are there to attend to you.

You may be interested in our article on: “Requirements to Donate Blood in the IMSS”

During plasmapheresis, blood is initially drawn through the use of large-gauge needles in the veins of the extremities (usually the arms) or a catheter implanted in the large veins of the neck (internal jugular vein), chest (subclavian vein or axillary) or groin (femoral vein).

If a catheter is used, it should be inserted under prior local anesthesia or light sedation. The Hickman catheter is the type of catheter most often chosen for this purpose.

During the plasmapheresis procedure medications are used to prevent the blood from clotting (anticoagulants) outside the body.

Plasma is separated from other blood components by one of three methods:

Once the plasma is removed, the remaining blood is returned to the patient along with a plasma replacement, such as albumin or a combination of albumin and saline. During the course of a session, three to four liters of plasma can be extracted.

after donating

after donation receive a snack and post-donation counseling. It is advisable to avoid great physical efforts and sudden movements. If you are a smoker, do not smoke for two hours after the extraction.

Side effects may include bleeding or a hematoma (blood under the skin) from the needle placement. If a catheter is used, there may be bleeding around the catheter placement site.

There is an increased tendency to get bacterial infections with catheter use, and bacteria can enter the bloodstream and cause sepsis. Great care must be taken to keep the catheter site clean and dry.

The anticoagulant commonly used in plasmapheresis is citrate, which has a tendency to bind to calcium in the blood, potentially leading to dangerously low calcium levels. To prevent this, calcium may be given intravenously (IV) or by mouth during the procedure.

Another possible complication during the procedure is low blood pressure. Patients may experience dizziness, lightheadedness, or fainting.

Because plasma contains factors that coagulate blood, its removal may temporarily reduce the blood’s ability to clot.

What is plasma?

The blood is made up of PLASMA (54%) which It is a yellow liquid in which blood cells float, it has water, nutrients, proteins and hormones.

Plasma in the portion of the blood that remains after red blood cells, leukocytes (white blood cells), and platelets are removed.

the plasma It consists of water, salts, enzymes, albumin, antibodies, and other proteins. Plasma proteins carry out a variety of roles, including blood clotting, fighting disease, and other critical functions.

How many liters of blood are needed for 1 liter of plasma?

To fractionate or separate the components of a unit of 480 milliliters of blood, a refrigerated centrifuge is usedwhich by means of temperatures separates the elements.

First, the erythrocyte concentrate is obtained. The plasma with platelets remains in another bag that undergoes a second centrifugation to separate them.

This is the original process, let’s say, but we already explained to you earlier that there is a much more modern process in which only the plasma is extracted and the other components are returned to the donor.

If we take into account that the plasma represents between 54% and 55% of the blood to obtain a liter approximately 1.85 liters of blood must be processed.

The process is allowed to be done even twice a weeksince the plasma, which is 92% water, is recovered much sooner than in the case of whole blood.

You can also get more than one donor. During the course of a session, three to four liters of plasma can be extracted. Although of course it is recommended that the amount of blood used per session be 800 milliliters, this in order to reduce side effects and take care of the donor’s health.

What is plasma used for?

plasma transfusions are used to carry all the coagulation factors and are widely used in patients with liver problems or liver cirrhosis, and patients with burns.

The pharmaceutical industry must also be considered, that is, the laboratory is a world leader in plasma derivatives, such as factor VIII used by hemophiliacs or immunoglobulin, which are extracted precisely from that plasma.

Benefits of donating plasma

Multiple studies have been conducted on plasmapheresis It is also considered a therapy. One of the benefits that most surprises specialists is that people who undergo this process lower your total cholesterol levels; especially the LDL that we know as bad cholesterol.

It is the result of a study carried out with a group of 663 donors by the Grifols company at its plasma collection centers in the United States.

It is a phenomenon that has many scientists interested because they do not know why. Studies like this one began to be done because of doctors’ concern for donors due to the side effects of donation.

And they discovered that total cholesterol is decreased by 45 points in men and 35 in women; bad cholesterol is reduced by around 35 points regardless of the gender of the donor.

In addition, this reduction is proportional to the excess that the donors have. Well, if a person has normal levels, they just don’t go down.

This is the benefit that has doctors most surprised, however plasmapheresis has been taken as a therapy even for syndromes such as guillen barre and for autoimmune and rheumatic diseases.

Also for kidney diseases because it is a process similar to dialysis although much simpler.

Life jacket: each donor can save four people. During the extraction, 450 cc —cubic centimeters— or half a liter of blood is obtained from each donor.

Different blood components are extracted from each unit: packed cells, fresh frozen plasma, platelets and cryoprecipitate. Each component can help a sick person.

Sites in Mexico to donate plasma

Today in Mexico if you want to donate plasma, you must donate blood directly, since they are not trained for the direct extraction of plasma and the re-entry into the body of the other components.

The donation incentive in Mexico has a particular situation, since Mexicans prefer to cross the border to carry out this procedure, due to the monetary incentive that said donation provides them, apart from physical well-being.

If your intention is totally altruistic and you decide to donate blood in Mexico so that its components, including plasma, are available, these are the places where you can go:

Do you pay to donate plasma?

Here we have a big dilemma. In Mexico there are laws that prohibit the commercialization of blood and its components; In addition to clearly indicating what should be the procedure to be followed before and after the donation is made.

All these regulations were imposed after there was an HIV epidemic in the 1980s, many times due to contamination during transfusions.

However, there are multiple laboratories in the United States that pay «donors» and we put it in quotes because if you charge for it you kill the altruistic nature of a donation.

Plasmapheresis clinics supply transnational pharmaceutical laboratories, hungry for blood plasma for the manufacture of immunological drugs

Only in the 17 plasma clinics that exist in the border strip of Texas – an eighth part of the total of these existing establishments in the United States – profits of around 300 million dollars are obtained annually in the sale of this element.

Estimates from local doctors indicate that 90 percent of plasma donors —from both sides of the border— are Mexican.

The payment for each half liter of plasma fluctuates between nine dollars (Brownsville) and 20 (El Paso)

Dr. Ramírez Mariles explained that the donor —often with limited financial resources— is extracted half a liter of blood through a system called plasmapheresis.

“That blood is centrifuged, put into a device and the plasma is separated from it, the substantial part that is protein; they extract 80 percent, and then they reintegrate the red blood cells (20 percent), already dissolved in saline solution or physiological serum”.

Alfredo Longoria, a pharmaceutical chemist, indicated that the plasma handled as raw material is a vital liquid for obtaining gamma globulins, which are used in medicine to obtain immunological vaccines against tetanus, hepatitis, rabies, measles and others. Tetanus gamma globulin, he said, costs up to 300 pesos per cubic centimeter, that is, what is paid for half a liter of plasma to a donor in El Paso, Texas

Most of the border plasma centers are located near the dividing lineand are distinguished by large red signs indicating that plasma is donated there.

How often can plasma be donated?

Unlike blood donations, plasma can be done more often. Specialists say that plasma can be donated without problems biweekly.

When you donate blood, it is only 450 to 500 milliliters and you must wait a few months until your body recovers because when you lose leukocytes, red blood cells, platelets, plasma, in short, you lose a reduced amount of blood but of all its components. And it takes time for the body to fully replenish them.

When you donate plasma, you replenish it easily because more than 90% of it is water; some specialists say you recover the amount lost in the next 24 hours.

Donating altruistically in Mexico more frequently will make this country self-sufficient in this matter and will be able to face adversity where this vital resource is needed.

We hope that the Requirements to donate plasma, They have served you to become aware of this matter and thus collaborate with great pleasure!

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