A newly launched website can help bridge the gap between COVID-19 survivors who wish to donate their convalescent plasma and hospitals that are able to collect such.
Plasma Ng Pag-asa is a secure COVID-19 survivor registration system that lets recovered patients connect to hospitals for plasma donation. Made available by the Office of Senator Sonny Angara, the site aims to provide "linkages among potential donors, Covid-19 patients, and hospitals performing convalescent plasma therapy."
Registration entails providing personal information and medical history, as well as choose the hospital for donation. The site encourages people who have fully recovered from COVID-19 for at least two weeks to consider donating plasma, but only if they are eligible to donate blood.
The entries gathered from the site are automatically submitted to hospitals that have the capacity to collect plasma and facilitate transfusion. Currently, these are Philippine General Hospital, Lung Center of the Philippines, and St. Luke's Medical Center, both in Quezon City and Bonifacio Global City.
Antibodies that can help fight off the disease can be found in recovered patients’ plasma, according to Medical News Today. When administered to patients, it can aid their immune systems in rejecting the pathogen more efficiently.
In April, the Philippine General Hospital and St. Luke’s Medical Center started convalescent plasma therapy on patients. Both institutions noted that some of their patients showed improvements in their condition after transfusion. Presently, there are no approved drugs or other therapeutics to prevent or treat COVID-19.
For more information, visit Plasma Ng Pag-asa's website.
Main image from St. Lukes Medical Center's Facebook page; for illustrative purposes only.
