Supreme Court on Friday issued a notice to the central government and others on a plea challenging rules that prevent blood donation by gay men, transgender persons and sex workers. On October 11, 2017, the National Blood Transfusion Council (NBTC) and the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare notified Guidelines on Blood Donor Selection and Blood Donor Referral and these guidelines permanently restrain transgenders, female sex workers and LGBTQI persons from donating blood. Petitioner Sharif D Rangnekar said that the guidelines are based on a highly prejudicial and presumptive view taken with regard to gay men in the 1980s in the United States of America. Since then, many countries including the USA, the United Kingdom, Israel and Canada, amongst others have revisited their views, stated the plea.