How to Donate Blood at an IMSS Hospital in Mexico
Mexico’s blood bank has insufficient supplies. Mostly, this is due to a lack of altruistic donors. What does this mean for you? It means that if you need medical care that may require the use of blood, you’ll be on the hook for replacing the blood you used - or the blood you might use.
Any Emergency Medical Plan in Mexico should therefore include a short list of people who could donate blood on your behalf. Your donors need to be under the age of 65, and will have to qualify by answering a few health and lifestyle questions. If you follow my journey below, you’ll also see that their blood will need to ‘measure up’ to certain high standards.
If you think you could donate blood in Mexico, please try! In the least, you’ll learn more about the IMSS public health system, you’ll get to practice your Spanish, and you’ll find out your blood type and more.
Keep reading to learn what happened when I tried to donate blood at an IMSS hospital in Mexico, and how you can donate too.
Create an online Blood Bank account
The first step in donating blood at an IMSS hospital in Mexico is to create an account with the Sistema Banco de Sangre. Notice the tab at the top that says ‘nacionales’ or ‘extranjeros.’ You do not have to be a Mexican citizen or resident to donate blood. Anyone can!
Before getting to the appointment portal, you’ll be asked if you’re donating for a specific person or not. If you’re donating for someone specific, you should have that person’s full name, their social security number (if applicable), and their phone number. You’ll be asked which hospital they are going to be treated at, and for what.
2.Schedule an appointment
Not every IMSS hospital has a blood bank. Typically, blood donation centers in Mexico are located in major cities. So, if your local hospital is smaller, you may have to travel a bit. As a gringo in Mexico, you likely have the resources for this. It’s interesting to note, however, that for 20-30% of Mexicans, this is an insurmountable hardship.
When I went to schedule my appointment, I found that I could only donate blood Monday through Friday, before 8am. Further, it seemed I could only schedule about one week in advance, making pre-planning a bit more challenging. Let us know in the comments what your experience is.
3.Answer the health questions
Who qualifies for donating blood? As you make an online appointment, you’ll be asked a series of pre-qualifying questions. Hear the full list in the video below.
4.What to expect at your appointment
Print out the PDF you received with your appointment confirmation, bring not just your Mexican drivers’ license, but your US passport (I was asked for a more official ID when I presented my license). Expect to wait, even if you have an appointment.
After I checked in, I waited about one hour to do a pre-screening blood test. This confirms your blood type and ensures you’re healthy enough to donate.
I did have to fill out a second set of ‘super secret’ questions about my drug use and sexual activity. Watch the video to learn more about this experience. Importantly, you should know that this is all in Spanish, so if you don’t understand or read Spanish very well, you’ll have to bring a friend with you who can translate - someone you feel comfortable in front of.
If you pass that second round of screening, you’re good to go! You’ll be called in to donate blood. In the video, you’ll find out what happened in my case.
5.Try to donate and let us know how it goes!
After months of trying, I was ultimately not able to donate blood at IMSS. Even though I have a rare blood type and my blood count was within normal ranges, they are looking for donors who fall into the mid to high end of those normal ranges. This is a good thing! You can rest assured that the blood you receive from Mexico’s blood bank is 100% healthy.
Do you think you could donate blood in Mexico? It’s worth a try. Let us know in the comments how it went for you.
Final Thoughts on Donating Blood in Mexico
I hope you can see through this process that it’s not always easy to donate blood in Mexico. This means it could also be challenging to get blood donors when you need them.
Having a plan and keeping a list of potential blood donors is a smart thing to do and can save you and your loved ones much stress. If having an Emergency Medical Plan for Mexico would give you more peace of mind, join our course to download your plan and start filling it out today.
In Mexico, 911 doesn't work the same way it does in the US. Do you know what you would do in a medical emergency? Let us help you make a plan.
