World Bulletin / News Desk

A doctor working for the Red Cross in the Austrian city of Linz has caused outrage by criticizing a blood donation campaign by an Islamic charity, claiming that Muslims who come from Muslim countries have bad blood.

The IRG foundation has been campaigning for Muslims to donate blood, but the Red Cross doctor’s claim that Muslims all at very least have Hepititus B left charity worker Aysun Ozdemir shocked.

Ozdemir personally spoke with the doctor over the phone on February 5, criticizing the comments and informing the doctor that illnesses have got nothing to do with one’s ethnic or religious background.

Ozdemir also told the doctor that the IRG foundation is an Austria-based foundation for Austrian Muslims, and that she herself had been in Austria for 23 years since she was two years old, but the doctor reportedly ignored this.

IRG foundation chairman Murat Baser said that a similar campaign was run by the charity last year in Linz, and not only did it get Red Cross approval but it was also published on the website.

The director of the Red Cross in Linz, Christian Gabriel, said that there was no religious criteria for blood, with the only requirement being that the donor is healthy.

However, Gabriel did add that while all are welcome to donate blood on an individual basis, the Red Cross has recently been distancing itself from accepting blood from charities, as in many cases bad blood has been turned away.

Gabriel also said that the matter will be investigated.

Source:

World Bulletin