Héma-Québec does not offer a fee-based HIV or hepatitis C screening test

Montréal, Québec, August 9, 2000 - The province's blood supplier may ask some donors to take a blood test. Following an inaccurate report carried by the media last Tuesday, HÉMA-QUÉBEC would like to remind the public that it does not offer an accelerated $60 screening test to donors who are asked to submit to further blood analysis.

Donors being traced after a recipient becomes infected by a blood transfusion are asked to go to a HÉMA-QUÉBEC blood clinic for a blood test. There is no fee for this analysis and the results are available two weeks later. Some private clinics offer an accelerated fee-based service.

HÉMA-QUÉBEC wishes to remind the public that a blood clinic must never be used as a means of obtaining a blood test. Only those donors contacted by Québec's blood supplier should report for a blood analysis.

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