The Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses has said its members can decide, according to their conscience, whether to accept red blood cells, white blood cells, plasma or platelets from another person during medical treatment.

The organisation disclosed this in a statement issued by its World Headquarters in Warwick, New York, and published on its official website on Friday.

According to the statement, “The decision to accept red cells, white cells, plasma or platelets from another person’s blood is a matter of personal conscience.”

It added that individual Witnesses must also decide whether to donate blood specifically for the purpose of providing components or fractions for another person’s medical treatment.

However, the organisation said its longstanding position against whole-blood transfusions remained unchanged.

Paul Gillies, an international spokesman for Jehovah’s Witnesses at the organisation’s World Headquarters, said decisions regarding blood components were matters of individual conscience.

The organisation said its members seek professional healthcare while maintaining their religious convictions.

“Jehovah’s Witnesses love life and want the best available medical care. They do not practice faith healing, and they seek out doctors who can provide effective treatment in accord with their wishes, values and beliefs.”

Gillies said individual congregations would not intervene in members’ personal decisions concerning blood components.

“Congregations do not involve themselves in personal decisions that rest with the individual conscience. We will continue to respect and support the personal decisions of our fellow believers.”

The organisation said Jehovah’s Witnesses number “over nine million worldwide, in congregations across more than 200 lands.”

The latest announcement follows a clarification issued by the religious group in March concerning the use of a member’s own blood during surgery and other medical procedures.

The clarification allowed individual Witnesses to decide whether their blood could be removed, stored and returned to them during medical treatment, while the organisation retained its position against receiving blood from another person.