The Central government has streamlined blood donation rules to ensure the safety of donors and patients. As per the guidelines, someone who has been jailed for more than 72 hours cannot donate blood. Also, an inmate out of jail cannot donate blood for a year from his/her release.

A senior officer from the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) said that this has been done according to the recommendations of the World Health Organisation (WHO). "As per the recommendations of WHO, it is advised that any person who has been jailed for more than 72 hours shouldn't donate blood. This is to avoid unnecessary chances of infection. They have been included into the vulnerable group [who are apparently more susceptible to sexually transpired diseases] of infection," he said.