A resident doctor himself, Tauseef Khan had been infected with coronavirus while treating COVID-19 patients at KG Medical University hospital here and remained under treatment for twenty days.
Though he felt weaker and was also keeping 'Roza' (fasting by the Muslims during the holy month of Ramzan), Khan not only decided to donate his plasma for the treatment of the other coronavirus infected patients, but also took the lead in convincing many other patients, who had recovered from the infection.
Khan requested the doctors to take his plasma first so that the other recovered patients could be encouraged to do the same.
It is not that the decision to donate plasma was easy for Khan. His family members advised him against doing so, apparently thinking that it may weaken a convalescing Khan. But for him the welfare of the patients was the first priority.
''Plasma therapy trials have shown encouraging results...After all, it is my duty to look after the patients,'' he said.
The therapy uses antibodies developed within an infected person as part of the body's natural immune response to the coronavirus. A patient, who has recovered from the infection, can donate his blood, which can be used to treat the other infected patients.
Plasma, which contains the antibodies, is extracted from the blood and injected into the body of the infected patients.
(Published 25 April 2020, 13:15 IST)
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