Background: Blood transfusion is a critical and lifesaving procedure as even a unit of blood can save a patient in need [1]. Safe and adequate supply of blood and blood products is a major public health issue faced globally. One of the important step to warrant blood safety is by properly following the guidelines of criteria for blood donor selection.A large number of donors are deferred from donating blood for several reasons either temporarily or permanently. Hence it is important to understand the various causes of donor deferral so that preventive measures can be undertaken to reduce the deferral rate in future. The aim of this study is to provide safe blood to patients and to understand pattern of donor deferral in our demographic area. Materials and Methods: A retrospective study was conducted to evaluate the profile of deferred blood donors for a period of 3 years from January 2014 to December 2016. Data of different deferral patterns were obtained from donor deferral register.Every donor was thoroughly evaluated by physical examination, hemoglobin estimation, weight, age, blood pressure, pulse rate, temperature. Donors who did not meet the required criteria were deferred and recorded in the donor deferral register. The deferred donors were analysed based on the causes of deferral. Results: A total of 11831 people came to donate blood during the period of study, out of whom 11675 (98.6%) were males and the rest 156 (1.3%) were females. Common causes of donor deferral included low hemoglobin (43%), hypertension (16.5%), alcohol consumption (13.7%), vaccinations (5.2%), Tatooing (4.4%), underweight (2.8%) and medications (2.2 %). Conclusion: Deferral is a form of rejection and it could represent loss of time for both blood donors and blood bank and the importance of explaining the status of deferral cannot be ignored. Efforts must be taken to increase awareness among deferred donors and encouraging them for future donation by donor education helps to reduce much of the loss of precious units of blood.

Keywords: Deferral; Donor; Low Hemoglobin.