Most people know that honorary blood donors receive en titlements to thank them for their selfless help. And how is it with bone marrow donors who donated hematopoietic stem cells for a blood cancer patient? They also have privileges!

If the donor has donated bone marrow or stem cells, he or she is en titled to privileges that are stipulated in Polish law. Each donor receives an ID and badge of a Transplant Donor, handed over at the collecting center. Among the donors there are people who donated bone marrow or other regenerating cells and tissues at least twice, thus becoming Meritorious Transplant Donors. The card and badge of a Meritorious Transplant Donor is issued by the Ministry of He alth and presented once a year during a formal meeting.

Medical care - skip the line

Both the Transplant Donor and the Meritorious Transplant Donor have the right to use - out of sequence - outpatient he alth care, which includes: specialist advice, diagnostic tests, outpatient treatment procedures, and other services - e.g. rehabilitation ( Act of August 27, 2004 on he alth care services financed from public funds). This means that the Transplant Donor and the Transplant Honored Donor are accepted out of the order of the waiting list. A medical service is usually provided on the day on which the Donor requests help or on a different date - in this case, the Donor will also be admitted out of sequence. It is important that the he alth service cannot be provided later than within 7 working days from the date of notification.

Free medication

A Meritorious Transplant Donor is also en titled to a free (up to the funding limit, provided for in the Act) supply of drugs, covered by the list of reimbursed drugs and the list of drugs that can be used in connection with donating blood, i.e. vitamin preparations, folic acid and iron (Regulation of the Minister of He alth of February 3, 2010 on the list of drugs for the recipient, holding the title of Meritorious Honorary Blood Donor or Meritorious Transplant Donor, Journal of Laws No. 23, item 119). The document entitling you to use these privileges is a prescription and ID card of a Distinguished Transplant Donor. At http://bil.aptek.pl/servlet/pacjent/fupraw, the donor maysearch for a drug and the amount of its reimbursement (Article 6 (2) of the Act of May 12, 2011 on the reimbursement of drugs, foodstuffs for particular nutritional uses and medical devices).

Public transport without a ticket

When using public transport in a given city, bone marrow donors should check whether they will need a ticket, because in many places in Poland they have the right to travel for free! Transplant donors have the option of free travel in Białystok, Tarnobrzeg, Zielona Góra, Wrocław, and in Słupsk, the annual ticket for the Transplant Donor is PLN 50. Meritorious Transplant Donors can use public transport free of charge in: Warsaw, Białystok, Lublin, Biała Podlaska, Poznań, Elbląg , Rzeszów and Wrocław. The rights to use free travel are always described in separate regulations of the carriers, so it is worthwhile for the bone marrow donors to look at this document. To use free travel, you must present a document confirming the en titlement (Card of a Transplant Donor or Card of a Distinguished Transplant Donor) and another document confirming the donor's identity.

Reimbursement of costs related to the collection procedure

It is worth adding that all costs related to the procedure of bone marrow or hematopoietic stem cell collection are covered by the DKMS Foundation, i.e. the costs of food, accommodation and travel to the initial examination and collection. The same conditions apply to people who agreed to take part in the procedure, but for various reasons were not qualified for collection. The collection day is a special moment for each donor, so he can take an accompanying person with him - the cost of travel and hotel stay for him. is covered by the DKMS Foundation.

Source: press materials of the DKMS Foundation.

Category:

Oncology