Corona patients fighting for their lives often need plasma transplants, but in each case, the donor has to be a recovered COVID 19 patient himself or herself. Now here is the rub. A large number of potential plasma donors are scared of entering the hospital premises for any number of reasons, one misplaced fear being that they would somehow catch the diseases again if they do so.
A few days ago, the District Magistrate of Noida, Mr. Suhas LY, came up with a brilliant idea to overcome peoples’ fears. Instead of making people come to the hospital, he decided that teams of medical officials would go to the recovered patients’ homes to collect the plasma.
Coffee With Collector
This innovative campaign, now in full flow in NOIDA is named “Coffee with Collector’’. As the phrase implies, the plasma donors also get a chance to interact with Mr. Suhas over a cup of coffee!
Mr. Suhas told Indian Masterminds, “The campaign is essentially to enhance the plasma donation in the district.”
In Noida, the Gautam Buddha district has fairly good medical facilities available. This brings in numerous people from various other districts for medical treatments. Many a time, when patients get admitted in the hospitals, they are in immediate need of plasma to get treated. “Generally, there is no plasma bank as such, that will provide you with plasma whenever needed. Therefore, hospitals emphasized bringing in plasma donors and extract their plasma to heal the patient”, says Mr. Suhas. The term “convalescent plasma therapy” is used to describe the treatment given to the infected person with the help of the immunity power gained by a recovered person.
People’s Apprehensions
So far, Gautam Buddha Nagar has had around 10,000 Corona infected cases. Whenever the need arose, the family members had to go out and look for donors, forward Whatsapp messages, and do anything possible to get a donor. Often, this would lead to inordinate delays. One reason for this is that not many people, even plasma volunteer, wanted to enter hospital premises for fear of caching the dreaded virus.
Mr. Suhas explained why he came up with this initiative. Talking to Indian Masterminds, he said “We had to rule out a particular amount of people too. For example, we only took into consideration survivors between the age group of 18 to 60, for donation. Also, we ruled out people with other major ailments. After ruling out chunks of people, according to the approximation of Government Medical Colleges, 40% of people were eligible for donation, which brings the number to 4000 people, who could still donate and help others.”
Looking down the lines of the last few months, it was quite clear that people coming forward to donate their plasma were quite less in number. Mr. Suhas blames it on the apprehension of people. “Thoughts like ‘What would happen if I donate plasma?’, ‘I don’t want to decrease my antibodies’, ‘What if I contract the infection, again?’ clouded the recovered patient’s mind and they didn’t wish to donate their plasma”, pointed out Mr. Suhas.
Happy Donors
That’s when he came up with the “Coffee with Collector” campaign. In order to clear out the foreboding among people, the initiative made it easier for plasma donors to join in the cause by sending health care officials to their homes, saving the donor’s visit to the hospital. The donors also feel safe and contented, while donating plasma from the comfort of their home.
“Afterwards, I invite the donors for a cup of coffee with me, in my office. It is basically a symbol of gratitude and my way of saying thanks for their deed. This also encourages more people to help COVID-19 patients fight the disease”, said Mr. Suhas.
The donors are also provided with a certificate. This certificate can also help them in the future. “If in future, someone from their family or friends or anyone, is in need of plasma, the donor can show the hospitals or the government officials their certificate, proving that he/she is eligible for donation.” Both, the person who donates plasma and the person who receives it,are made aware of each other’s identity.
Amazing Response
“So far, we have got an amazing response. People are themselves, reaching out to us and donating plasma. We haven’t had the need to reach out to other states or districts for acquiring plasma. We also have the lowest rate of fatality in the entire country! Noida has a 0.4% rate of fatality”, exclaimed Mr. Suhas happily!
He appeals that people who have fully recovered from the virus should come forward for plasma donation so that more and more lives could be saved and we are able to fight this pandemic, together.
Anyone who wishes to donate plasma can call on 7303488239 and medical officials from the Government Institute of Medical Sciences (GIMS), Greater Noida, will reach out to them.
Indian Masterminds congratulates Mr. Suhas LY, District Magistrate, Noida for his wonderful initiative and wishes him best for all his future endeavors!
