IN A DOCUMENT ON FURTHER PROMOTING voluntary blood donations issued on Nov 14, the National Health Commission encouraged local authorities to explore incorporating voluntary blood donations into the personal credit system. China Daily writer Wang Yiqing comments:

The document has the good intention of promoting the behavior of voluntary blood donations by providing blood donors preferential treatment in the use of public facilities. But the problem is whether or not incorporating voluntary blood donations into the personal credit system is appropriate or not.

Credit reports relate to financial and business activities. A document on the construction of a social credit system issued by the State Council, China's Cabinet, in 2007, clearly points out that the construction of the social credit system should focus on credit and loans, tax payments, contract compliance and product quality. Individual credit reports are a personal credit file established by the central bank, which mainly focus on citizens' economic behavior in fulfilling their part of a contract. Donating blood is voluntary behavior that has nothing to do with people's creditworthiness.

Before expanding the scope of the social credit system the authorities should take into consideration many important issues such as personal information protection and data security. The Credit Reference Center of the People's Bank of China has not incorporated some direct personal economic behavior such as utilities payment information into the credit system, so it is a little hasty to encourage local authorities to incorporate such kind of personal information as blood donations into the social credit system without careful consideration.

In recent years many personal behaviors have been incorporated into the social credit system by local authorities, which has raised public concerns about abuse of the credit reference system. For instance, littering or eating on public transport, which have nothing to do with people's credit in the economic field, have been incorporated into the social credit system by some local authorities.

In addition, some people argue that incorporating voluntary blood donation into the social credit system, although intended to reward the donor, turns a voluntary behavior into a kind of soft compulsory requirement. If the authorities really want to encourage people to donate blood, it is better to provide preferential medical treatment in terms of blood for donors and their families when required.

Improving the social credit system is of great significance to social harmony, and it is necessary to encourage people to donate blood, but voluntary blood donation is not appropriate for inclusion in the personal credit system.