As coronavirus cases continue to surge in India, there is a growing shortage of beds, oxygen, medicines and plasma donors. The healthcare system is reeling under pressure as a second wave threatens to cause damage that could have far-reaching consequences.
In the midst of a crisis, people are doing anything and everything to save the lives of their loved ones.
The woman, Sohini Chattopadhyay, has been searching for plasma donors for her 30-year-old COVID positive friend, on several social media platforms, hospitals and helpline numbers. But, all went in vain as she could not find plasma donors for her friend anywhere. Later, when she was casually scrolling through the dating app Tinder she found a donor who was formerly COVID-positive and had written about the same in his bio. Soon, she connected with the donor on the app and finally managed to get the plasma for her friend.
When she tweeted about the plasma match found through Tinder, a Twitter user wrote “How?”, to which Chattopadhyay replied, “A friend put the requirements on her bio and we found a Covid recovered dude.”
And in a series of tweets, she wrote, “We found a plasma match for our friend through Tinder. Dating app 1, govt 0.” In another tweet she called it something nice that had happened and wrote, “This is a FUN tweet about something nice that happened in weird times.” She further added, “Other consulting doctors suggest that plasma is not highly useful, but could have been useful for my friend’s very specific condition, addressing co-morbidities. Please don’t take it as any advocacy of sorts.”
Plasma therapy involves using plasma from patients who have recovered from Covid-19 to treat patients currently suffering from the disease. The antibody-rich plasma can help treat the infection in positive patients.
Meanwhile, Wednesday saw another new record when the country racked up 2,95,041 new cases, with no sign that the surge is abating. India reported 2,95,041 fresh cases, 2023 new deaths, 1.26 lakh rise in active cases, 1.67 lakh new recoveries. Wednesday became the seventh straight day when the country recorded over two lakh new cases.
