Abstract
Background: Blood donation is an essential and most important part of the health care system across the world. It becomes necessary to know the root cause of individuals who are willing to donate the blood but deferred on some grounds.

Aim and Objectives: The aim of this study is analysis of such deferrals so as to promote voluntary blood donation practice in our health-care system. The objectives of this study are to promote voluntary blood donation, provide safe blood and blood components/products to the recipients, ensure the safety and well-being of blood donors and make strategies to retain already motivated but deferred donors.

Materials and Methods: A prospective observational study was done during the period January 2021–December 2021 at blood center of S.B.K.S. MI & RC, Dhiraj Hospital, Vadodara. All individuals willing for whole blood donation were subjected to detailed history taking and general physical examination and were either accepted or denied for blood donation using the standard blood donor guidelines. Pre-donation deferred individuals and their data were then thoroughly analyzed.

Results: A total of 2168 individuals reported at blood center for whole blood donation out of which 311 donors (14.34%) were deferred. Of all deferred donors, male-to-female ratio of deferral found out to be 4.02:1. Two hundred and forty-nine deferrals (80.06%) were males while 62 deferrals (19.94%) were females. Two hundred and seventy-two deferrals (12.54%) were deferred temporarily while 39 deferrals (1.79%) were permanent. Youngest deferred donor was aged 18 years while the eldest was 59 years. Low hemoglobin cases were 134 making it 43.09% of all reasons of deferring a pre-donation whole blood donor.

Conclusion: Low hemoglobin (<12.5 gm%) was the leading cause of deferrals accounting for 43.09%. The majority of the deferrals were temporary where the cause can be treated or eliminated. Such donors need to be remotivated and bring them back to the donor pool so that maximum blood donation which indeed is a lifesaving measure can be promoted. Furthermore, the analysis done by doing such study can help to promote the blood donation on a large scale and not only saving many lives but also create awareness among the society.

Key words: Deferral; Temporary; Permanent; Whole blood; Anemia