Canada's blood system received top marks for safety in a new report card. (Ed Andrieski/Associated Press)

Canada's blood supply is safe and sufficient, but there are accountability questions, according to a new report from the Canadian Hemophilia Society.

The report released Thursday concludes blood, blood products such as clotting factors for people with hemophilia, and their alternatives "are very safe and in sufficient supply."

But the society said it believes that Canadian Blood Services has taken a step backwards on accountability to those who receive the products.

The society's concern is that during the agency's board renewal in 2009 and 2010, the "public directors" named to the board had no apparent links to recipient groups and little knowledge of their key issues from a patient's perspective.

"Members of recipient organizations see their exclusion as a clear contravention of CBS's own bylaws, and a giant step backwards in accountability," the report said.

Responding to the report, Canadian Blood Services said it is "highly accountable."

The federal and provincial governments fund CBS, and it's up to them to decide on board appointments, said Lorna Tessier, the group's director of public relations.

"There are many, many things we have in place that ensure transparency, accountability, and that the consumers of blood and blood products are part of the decision-making," Tessier said in an interview.

The agency's board always seeks the guidance of its advisory committee, which includes patient groups, before making key decisions, she added.

Bodies maintained 'clear focus on safety'

Quebec's blood agency, Héma-Québec, continues to have board positions for members of recipient groups, the hemophilia society noted.

"On a more positive note, the report finds that CBS, Héma-Québec and Health Canada [the regulator of the blood system] have maintained a clear focus on safety. Blood and blood products are safer today than at any time in the past," the report said.

The society's report card gave Canada's justice system a grade of "A" for following a 2010 judgment by Justice Catherine Aitken of the Ontario Superior Court. Aitken found that the current donor deferral criteria for men who have had sex with men are not discriminatory.

The hemophilia society was an intervenor in the trial and welcomed the decision.

Since then, regulatory decisions on screening procedures continue to be based on the latest science and epidemiology, the report said.

The latest report, which covers 2008 to 2010, also gave the federal government a grade of "D" for lack of progress on an orphan drug policy that would help make treatments for rare diseases available to patients.

Canada is the only highly developed nation without such a policy, according to the report.