By Sampada A. Khatiwada
Kathmandu, Oct. 6: Ramesh Regmi (name changed), 49, got admitted to the APF Hospital, Balambu after being infected with the novel coronavirus. After his health started deteriorating, the doctors suggested his family to consider Convalescent Plasma Therapy (CPT) for his treatment. As CPT required plasma, which is extracted from the blood of a person who has recovered from COVID-19, Regmi's family started searching for a recovered patient with A+ blood group.
Dinesh Regmi, brother of the patient, then came across a page on Facebook, where some youths were campaigning for donation of plasma by the recovered patients. As he talked to the campaigners, Regmi found a donor for his brother.
"It has been 20 days since the CPT was conducted for my brother's treatment. After the therapy, he was successful to beat the infection. He has already been discharged from the hospital," said Regmi.
A group of recovered COVID-19 patients has launched a campaign via Facebook called 'Maile jite corona, ma garchhu (plasma) raktadan', which translates to 'I defeated COVID-19, I will donate blood (plasma)' to encourage the recovered patients to come forth and save lives of those who are battling with the infection. The group, by keeping the record of recovered patients who are willing to donate plasma, facilitates the communication between receivers and donors.
"We are very thankful to the campaigners who are voicing for plasma donation. It is because of them we were able to save our brother's life," said Regmi.
Prakash Gupta, 22, who recovered from the coronavirus infection on August 21, had donated plasma to Regmi's brother.
"I was well aware of CPT before being infected with the virus. After I got infected, although I was scared, I was excited about donating my plasma to save life of those who are critically ill," said Gupta. "While staying in isolation at Teku Hospital, I decided that I would donate plasma after my recovery."
After recovering from the infection, Gupta joined the campaign on Facebook and announced his blood group stating that he was ready to donate plasma. Through the campaign Gupta was able to help Regmi in defeating COVID-19.
The campaign which started from September 23 on Facebook has been able to find plasma donors for 17 critically ill COVID-19 patients.
"This campaign is an outcome of the thoughts and experiences of the infected patients while they were staying in isolation," said Prakash Bhujel, coordinator of the campaign. "Our society perceives the pandemic as a taboo. The infected patients have to face social stigma and are often treated as untouchables. 

Thus, as COVID-19 survivors, 35 of us came together to portray that the infected patients are not criminals or untouchables, rather they are the life savers to those who are battling with the infection."
"We are not running an organisation or a committee-based campaign. We have created a Facebook group and page as a mode of communication between the plasma donors and receivers. If anyone asks for plasma of a certain blood group, we mobilise our network to search for the donor. We also create virtual meets to coordinate with COVID-19 survivors."
We request the public to join our web of plasma donors and receivers through video messages and social media platforms, he added.
As vaccine against the novel coronavirus has not been developed yet, the alternative procedures like plasma therapy are the last resort used for the treatment of COVID-19 patients. As the cases of novel coronavirus are increasing rapidly in the Kathmandu Valley, plasma therapy, although under investigation, is the need of the hour, said Bhujel.
Bhujel also appealed everyone to join hands and support the campaign by assisting the receivers to find plasma donors as soon as possible.