In its first full year of operation in Saskatoon, Canadian Plasma Resources has paid out more than $400,000 in compensation gift cards to donors.
New donors receive $20 for their first donation, $80 for their second donation and $50 for their next three donations. Previously qualified donors receive any where from $30 to $50 – depending how many times they donate per quarter.
When the clinic opened in Saskatoon in 2016 donors received $25 gift cards per donation.
“We found that that was not sufficient because the procedure time overall is a little bit longer, and we also include the donors commute time in this calculation,” CEO Barzin Bahardoust said.
While the Saskatchewan Ministry of Health licenses the laboratory, it does not regulate the value of payment offered.
More than 8,000 liters of plasma have been collected so far in 2017, compared to 6,000 liters collected from Canadian Blood Service’s seven voluntary donation locations, according to Bahardoust.
In 2016 when the clinic opened it was the first private, for profit plasma collection company. Another clinic has since opened in Moncton, N.B.