International student Rodiyat Alabede,22, died of cardiac arrest shortly after donating plasma in Winnipeg on 25 October 2025. Photograph: gofundmeInternational student Rodiyat Alabede,22, died of cardiac arrest shortly after donating plasma in Winnipeg on 25 October 2025.
Governo lança investigação sobre práticas potencialmente inseguras na empresa de saúde espanhola Grifols.
A chain of private plasma donation clinics in Canada said Friday it is pausing collections after the deaths of two donors and a new government investigation into potential unsafe practices.
Grifols, the Spanish healthcare company that runs 17 clinics across Canada and is the country’s only private clinic for plasma donation, said it informed Health Canada of its decision to temporarily pause collections on Wednesday.
No mesmo dia, a agência havia emitido uma notificação formal de não conformidade por falha em seguir regulamentos de sangue, disse um alto funcionário ao jornal Globe and Mail.
The two deaths occurred after plasma donations in October 2025 and January 2026, Health Canada said in March of this year. The donors, both of whom were in the province of Manitoba, went into “distress” while donating, people familiar with the cases said.
Though Health Canada did not release the identities of the donors, friends said one was Rodiyat Alabede, 22, an international student and aspiring social worker who donated plasma in Winnipeg on 25 October.
Patient advocates reported at the end of May that there were concerns about whether Alabede had been properly screened.
Uma autópsia mostrou que Alabede morreu de parada cardíaca logo após doar. A Health Canada relatou que não encontrou "nenhum vínculo" entre a morte de Alabede e a doação de plasma.
Patient advocates have called for a new inquest into her death, however, after alleging that “significant medical discrepancies” had been uncovered between her autopsy, which was completed two days after her death, and the medical summary drafted by Health Canada published on 27 March of this year.
The Guardian has also seen Health Canada inspection reports from May that found multiple deficiencies at Grifols clinics, including inadequate training for staff, failures in standard operating procedures, poor record keeping and a failure by Grifols to remedy past issues.
The Health Canada report also found that staff did not stop plasma collection when alarms went off, and described the company’s reporting as “incomplete” and “inaccurate”.
O plasma é um líquido rico em proteínas de cor amarelo-pálida no sangue que ajuda a mover glóbulos vermelhos e brancos, juntamente com plaquetas, através dos vasos sanguíneos, de acordo com os Serviços de Sangue do Canadá, a organização sem fins lucrativos que opera o suprimento nacional de sangue do Canadá.
Plasma also helps prevent excessive bleeding and is used to create medications for a variety of conditions including hemophilia, liver disease and various cancers.
The plasma donation process differs from donating blood overall. A medical device called an apheresis machine draws the blood, separates it into individual parts, collects the components needed and then returns the remaining blood back into the body, according to Canadian Blood Services.
The process takes about 90 minutes, whereas a general blood draw takes about 10.
No Canadá, as províncias e territórios decidem se clínicas de plasma remunerado são permitidas. Colúmbia Britânica e Quebec não permitem a prática, por exemplo, mas Manitoba, onde as mortes ocorreram, não proíbe que as empresas paguem doadores por plasma.
Grifols said it decided to pause collection “proactively and voluntarily” due to what it deemed “unfounded attention.” It said the pause would allow it to work with Health Canada and Canadian Blood Services.
The company has denied the two deaths were connected to plasma donation.
Na sexta-feira, a Health Canada disse que encontrou "diversas deficiências" especificamente na localização Taylor Avenue Grifols em Winnipeg. Um porta-voz daquela localização disse que está trabalhando em estreita colaboração com a empresa para que possa retornar às operações.
Fontes
Informação baseada em material público de The Guardian World, reescrito pela redação ULTRA NOTÍCIAS.
