Private companies closely linked to the far-right Orban regime have been taking advantage of the deprived gypsy population in the rust belt of Northeastern Hungary by tricking them into blood plasma donation. Blood plasma donation became a powerful business in an area characterized by unemployment and deprivation. The cynical political state which often spreads anti-gypsy hatred and conspiracy theories uses the very blood and flesh of their gypsy citizens.
In the last few years, businesses closely linked to the far-right regime recognized how to build enormous profits from the hopelessness of these people stuck in permanent poverty. The de-regulation of blood plasma donation skyrocketed private businesses operating plasma donation centers in the area. Many of these centers are even linked to the head of the National Blood Donation Service, whose husband is the most infamous publicist of the Orban regime and the author of many hateful anti-gypsy articles, urging patriots to road kill gypsies and comparing them to animals . Plasma centers linked to his wife now operate in seven Hungarian cities, and overall, there are now more than 50 private plasma donation centers across Hungary. While they pay a maximum of $30 for a donation, blood plasma could be sold in the world market for as much as $1000.
These centers often operate schemes taking advantage of the gambling addictions their donors suffer from, as regular donors could take part in lucky draws and scratch card programs. Although the donor centers should share their data with each other to make sure people are not able to donate plasma too frequently, this law is not enforced, and more and more people in the Northeast of Hungary see plasma donation as a form of living and spending their days commuting on the infrequent public transports between the different donor centers scattered around the main cities of the area.