Background and Objectives: It is well known that quite a large number of apparently healthy donors are not able to donate blood successfully because of varied reasons. These donors are deferred temporarily or permanently. The aim of the study was to analyse the incidence of Blood Donor deferral and its various causes and use this information as a guide for promoting voluntary Blood donation. Materials and Methods: Present study is a retrospective descriptive study. All the Blood donors reporting at our Blood Bank in last 18 months period were analysed retrospectively. Data of all the donors deferred due to various causes was analysed at our Blood bank. Results: There were 10,569 donors, of which 557 donors were deferred. Deferral rate amounting to 5.27%. Most common age group deferred was 26–35 years (38.42%). Temporary deferral were 96.76% (n=539) and permanent deferral were 3.23%. Leading causes of temporary deferral were hypertension, hypotension, alcohol intake, medicine intake, infection and permanent deferral causes were epilepsy, uncontrolled diabetes mellitus, thyroid disorder. Conclusion: More studies should be done at state and national level so that enough data can be collected and national policies formulated in deferring donors and moreover analysis of donor deferral pattern will help blood banks to formulate more focused donor screening approach.

Keywords: Blood bank; Blood donors; Donor deferral; Permanent deferral.