'Covid survivors should become plasma brand ambassadors'

NAVI MUMBAI: A recent suggestion of a city NGO that Covid survivors should become brand ambassadors for plasma donations to help other patients, has been forwarded to the state health department for their perusal. The activists said that a comprehensive data bank must be created in this regard.
Maharashtra government and Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation have responded positively to the NGO suggestion to designate Covid survivors as Plasma Brand Ambassadors.
Chief minister's office and Navi Mumbai Municipal municipal commissioner Abhijit Bangar have responded to the suggestion by NatConnect Foundation to build a database of Covid-19 patients and follow-up with them for plasma donation.
"The Covid-treated people’s list could come very handy for building and maintaining an online Plasma Bank as well," said B N Kumar, director of NatConnect Foundation.
He added that CM Uddhav Thackeray has asked the urban development and public health secretaries to take the suggestion forward.
Bangar referred the mail to the Additional Commissioner, Services, Medical Officer and the Health Department.
It is a simple idea, said Kumar. "Several Covid patients keep getting admitted to various hospitals and leave for home on getting cured," he added.
He suggested that the importance of plasma donation should be built into their minds during their stay at hospitals. While they are getting discharged, their consent could be taken to be contacted after 30 days for plasma donation, he explained.
“With Covid survivors as Brand Ambassadors for plasma collection, we can build good repository and use it for treatment of Covid patients till we get the vaccine in place,” Kumar said.
The database will definitely come handy when the kith and kin of patients run around for a particular blood group donors. Those who recover with plasma donation could also be added to the database, if medically permissible, Kumar added.