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A doctor who contracted coronavirus while working in a Covid-19 ward has said that being told he couldn鈥檛 donate plasma to a clinical trial was 鈥渉umiliating鈥�.

Any man who has had sex with another man within the past three months is excluded from donating their plasma, which is the same as the current rules for donating blood set by the government.

Joseph Heskin had signed up to donate plasma to a clinical trial after recovering from the virus, but when further questioned about whether he had sex with a man he was told he would not be able to donate.

The HIV and sexual health doctor told 5 Live鈥檚 Stephen Nolan there shouldn鈥檛 be more restrictions on gay and bisexual men, instead people should be 鈥渋ndividually risk assessed鈥�.

An NHS Blood and Transplant spokesperson said: 鈥淲e are using the current donor selection guidelines. The Government set the three month deferral. This is based on expert advice from a Department of Health and Social Care expert committee called SaBTO.

鈥淲e appreciate that any deferral is disappointing if you want to save lives by giving blood, platelets or plasma.

鈥淲e recognise that people want to be considered as individuals as much as possible. Separately to the convalescent plasma trial, we are already working collaboratively with LGBT+ groups on blood donation, through the FAIR steering group.

鈥淭he FAIR group is using an evidence-based approach to explore if a more individualised blood donation risk assessment can be safely and practically introduced, while ensuring the safe supply of blood to patients.

鈥淲e want to give as many people as possible the opportunity to donate whilst continuing to ensure the safety of patients remains our number one priority.鈥�

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