Yo Yo Deer Crying｜Shanghai Blood Donation Certificate Actually “Expires”? Awarded the “Voluntary Blood Donation Contribution Award Gold Award”, but Trapped in the Cracks of Regulations in Various Places

“Does goodwill have an expiration date?” It is suggested that Shanghai and cities across the country revise the current “Blood Donation Regulations”.

It is suggested that Shanghai and cities across the country,

revise the current “Blood Donation Regulations”

“Does goodwill have an expiration date?”

I haven’t figured out the answer to this question yet,

I heard Sister Yan say: “But Shanghai’s blood donation certificate will expire.”

Sister Yan is one of my readers, and she has been following Youyou Luming for 6 years. She comes from a rural area in Xingtai, Hebei, and is a very kind person.

Since 2003, she has worked in Xingtai, Wuhan, Huanggang, Beijing, Shijiazhuang, Suzhou, and Shanghai (yes, it’s working, not working, rural people can only use the word “working”, the registration form is “Beijing migrant workers” “Shanghai migrant workers”), and she will donate blood in every city she goes to, persevering. In the past 22 years, she has donated blood 34 times, with a total blood donation of 16,500 ml, equivalent to the total blood volume of 3 adults.

Because of this, in August 2025, she won the “2022-2023 Voluntary Blood Donation Dedication Award Gold Award” (jointly awarded by the National Health Commission, the Red Cross Society of China, and the Health Bureau of the Logistics Support Department of the Central Military Commission).

In February this year, her mother-in-law suddenly suffered a gastric hemorrhage and was hospitalized. Among them, she spent 1,980 yuan on blood transfusions.

According to general understanding, to encourage blood donation, blood donors and their relatives can use blood for free. Therefore, Sister Yan wanted to apply for reimbursement for this expense.

As a result, an accident happened: She, who had donated blood in 7 cities, couldn’t find a place to reimburse the 1,980 yuan.

First of all, Hebei, the “Hebei Blood Donation Regulations” (implemented in 2023) stipulates: “Citizens who donate blood in this province and their spouses and direct relatives need clinical blood use, according to the relevant regulations of the state and this province, the fees stipulated in the preceding paragraph shall be exempted or reduced.”

Sister Yan’s mother-in-law does not belong to this category. The other cities are similar.

The only one who included the mother-in-law was Shanghai, which explicitly included “parents of the blood donor’s spouse” in the list of free blood use. However, on February 24, when Sister Yan applied to the Shanghai Blood Center for reimbursement, she was also rejected the next day. The reason for Shanghai’s rejection was “the interval between the date of the blood donation certificate and the invoice has exceeded 5 years”:

Therefore, Sister Yan has become a person in the gap between the regulations of various cities.

What makes me feel sad is that on February 24th, she also went to donate blood.

She is such a person. It seems that blood will never be cold.

Will Shanghai’s blood donation certificate “expire”? Yes, there is a time limit. The current “Shanghai Blood Donation Regulations” stipulates:

(1) Blood donors in this city who use medical clinical blood within five years from the date of blood donation shall use blood for free at five times the amount of blood donated; those who use medical clinical blood after five years from the date of blood donation shall use blood for free at the same amount as the blood donated;

(2) Blood donors in this city, their close relatives, and parents of their spouses who need medical clinical blood within five years from the date of blood donation shall use blood for free at the same amount as the blood donated.

This 5-year time limit is very different from the regulations of most cities across the country that blood donors can “use blood for free for life”.

I checked each city one by one. The basic regulations of the “Beijing Blood Donation Regulations” (2021), “Shenzhen Special Economic Zone Voluntary Blood Donation Regulations” (2015), “Notice of the Guangdong Provincial Health Commission on Further Guaranteeing Priority Blood Use for Voluntary Blood Donors in the Province” (implemented in 2025), and “Wuhan Blood Donation Regulations” (2023) are: “Blood donors themselves can use blood for free for life, and their spouses and direct relatives can use blood for free at the same amount as the blood donated.”

Only Shanghai, stands out, with a five-year time limit.

When Sister Yan communicated with the Shanghai Blood Center, the feedback she received was that Shanghai’s regulations were due to the pressure on Shanghai’s finances being relatively high, and it could not afford too much blood reimbursement. “Shanghai’s finances should be among the best in the country. Why can’t Shanghai, when other cities with more financial difficulties, or even third- and fourth-tier cities, can use blood for free for life? This is unreasonable.” Sister Yan said that she could not accept this reason.

The advanced aspect of Shanghai is that it also includes “parents of the spouse” in the scope of close relatives. This is worth learning from other cities, but in the more important and wider time issue of “free for life or free for a limited time”, Shanghai has shown the most “stingy” side to voluntary blood donors in the country. 

The national regulations (2023 National Health Commission “Notice on Further Doing a Good Job in the Incentive and Reward Work for Voluntary Blood Donors”) state:

“Encourage all regions to actively explore incentive measures. All regions should fully learn from and draw on the advanced experience and feasible practices of other provinces, and combine the actual situation of each province to formulate preferential policies for voluntary blood donors, consistently do a good job in the incentive work for voluntary blood donors, continuously improve the sense of gain and honor of voluntary blood donors, and allow voluntary blood donors to truly enjoy the convenience brought by the voluntary blood donation policy.”

Now it seems that Shanghai’s inclusion of “parents of the spouse” in the reimbursement scope is an advanced practice; the fact that all cities across the country outside of Shanghai “blood donors can use blood for free for life” is also an advanced practice.

If these two experiences are learned from each other, then Sister Yan, who has been donating blood voluntarily for 22 years, will not be squeezed in the gap between the regulations of various cities and unable to break through.

Is Sister Yan’s request to reimburse her mother-in-law for 1,980 yuan in blood expenses reasonable? Reasonable.

Can the love of voluntary blood donation be written off because of the five-year time? No.

Therefore, today, I firmly support Sister Yan. This article has two suggestions:

First, Shanghai, or the other six cities where she has donated blood, reimburse her for this money as quickly as possible. (If this reimbursement has not made progress in the next week, I am willing to make up for this deficiency)

Second, cities across the country outside of Shanghai, revise the current “Blood Donation Regulations”, learn from Shanghai, and include “parents of the spouse” in the scope of blood reimbursement; Shanghai should also revise the “Blood Donation Regulations”, learn from cities across the country, and revise the five-year time limit for blood use by voluntary blood donors. As Sister Yan said, “I hope Shanghai will not let the blood donation certificate chill the heart.”

Thank you very much, Sister Yan. It is because of her experience of working and donating blood in seven cities that the policies of various places have exposed their shortcomings today. If the blood donation regulations of various places are revised as a result, the number of blood donor families who will benefit nationwide will be countless. Good is great.

Sister Yan has two children, one of whom has autism and has been receiving treatment. Here, I wish Sister Yan’s family, who has great love, health, happiness, and joy. They deserve it.

Youyou Luming 20260301