The liver function test, which has been a mandatory procedure for blood donation, will be abolished after 36 years.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare officially implemented the partial amendment to the Enforcement Rule of the Blood Management Act on July 1, which excludes liver function tests that have become less effective due to advancements in other testing technologies.
This change is expected to prevent the waste of blood that was previously discarded during safety verification processes and provide some relief to the chronic national blood supply shortage.
The core of this amendment is the complete removal of liver function tests—previously applied to blood intended for transfusion—from both the pre-donation screening items and the criteria for determining the suitability of collected blood.
The government decided to abolish this test because of significant breakthroughs in technology used to detect Hepatitis B and C viruses in the blood.
In the past, when it was difficult to directly identify viruses, liver function tests—which measure levels that rise when liver cells are damaged—were used as an indirect screening method.
With the recent introduction of nucleic acid amplification testing, which can accurately detect even minute amounts of the virus by directly replicating its genes, the effectiveness of maintaining the existing liver function test has diminished.
Although liver function tests were introduced in 1990 and maintained for over 30 years, they have long been criticized within and outside the medical community as a major cause of blood waste.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommended excluding liver function tests from blood donation screening as early as 2009, and major developed countries, including the United States, phased out these tests approximately 20 years ago.
With this amendment to the enforcement rule, South Korea has also improved its testing standards to align with international benchmarks.
According to National Assembly data, approximately 200 million cc of blood has been discarded in Korea over the past five years. Of this, about 190,000 units (a packaging unit for a single blood donation) were discarded because they did not meet the liver function test criteria.
Because liver function test results can fluctuate temporarily due to daily factors such as fatigue or food intake, the test resulted in the disposal of healthy blood that would have been perfectly safe for transfusion.
This measure is expected to have a positive impact on resolving the severe blood shortage that has persisted until recently.
According to the Korean Red Cross Blood Services, as of April 24, 2026, the national blood reserve stood at 15,203 units. Considering the daily requirement of 5,052 units, this amounted to only about a three-day supply.
This level falls short of the recommended five-day supply, placing the status at the attention level, just before entering the caution level, which signifies a partial shortage in blood supply.
(Photo courtesy of Korean Red Cross Incheon Blood Center, Yonhap News)