Cured Muslims in India donate blood plasma to critical Covid-19 patients

Muslims from a religious sect who recovered from the coronavirus infection have taken a pledge to donate their plasma to help critical Covid-19 patients.

A Muslim man undergoing tests at hospital before donating plasma. © Murali Krishnan

Hundreds of Tablighi Jamaat volunteers who have recovered from coronavirus are now queuing up in hospitals in different parts of India to donate plasma for critical patients undergoing treatment.

A fortnight before the lockdown in India was announced on 24 March, members of the Muslim missionary organization ‘Tablighi Jamaat’ gathered from across India and south-east Asia in Delhi for a long-scheduled event. 

Tablighi Jamaat members are quarantined after attending a religious meet in Delhi © Murali Krishnan

After the Indian government linked hundreds of cases of Covid-19 to the  group, angry and virulent messages flooded social media purporting to show Muslims conspiring to spread the coronavirus. 

With the emergence of Covid-19 clusters throughout the country directly linked to the event, there was huge outrage against the organisation and the country’s nearly 200-million strong Muslim population in general.

#TabligiHeroes donating plasma for fighting against #COVID19
This is the culture of Tablighi Jamath, and not compensation for what they've been accused of.They are truly believers with good hearts.💚

— Sameer Shaikh (@SameerS69837515) April 29, 2020

Blood has no religion

On 18 April, the Health Ministry claimed that 30 per cent of the then 14,378 cases were linked to the group.

“I am happy after donating plasma once and would be happy to do it again. The doctor said that five coronavirus patients will benefit from my donation,” Tabrez Khan, the first plasma donor told RFI.

“This has been a tough time for us and we have had to face insults and attacks. More of us will come forward to donate our plasma… hopefully that will end,” Rafiq Mian, another plasma donor told RFI.

After weeks of demonisation and abuse, the coming out of the Tablighis to donate their plasma, brings a ray of hope and positivity in a sectarian environment.

“People, who are now cured of Covid-19, should donate blood plasma to others who are still fighting the disease and are under treatment,” Muhammad Saad Kandhlawi, the head of the Tablighi Jamaat said in a statement. He is facing criminal charges for organizing the event.

According to doctors, people who recover from the pandemic develop antibodies in their blood to fight the disease. This, in turn, is called convalescent plasma, and the process of transferring it is known as convalescent plasma therapy.

Foreigners tabliqi jamat Donate thier plasma in New Delhi to cure corona virus affected non muslims people pic.twitter.com/3B11MRBhKT

— Abdul Khader (@Abkhader69) April 29, 2020

Early reports have indicated that this therapy has shown promising results in the treatment of severely ill Covid-19 patients and clinical trials for the same have been approved in multiple countries, including India.

For a donor to be eligible to donate convalescent plasma, they must have recovered from a Covid-19 infection and have been free of the disease, or any symptoms, for at least 28 days or should have been free of symptoms and have tested negative for the virus at least 14 days before the plasma can be used.

Plasma for treatment

Figures show that a total of 350 members of the organization have fully recovered from the infection and have taken a pledge to donate plasma to help out other critical Covid-19 patients in the hospitals of Delhi.

So far, the plasma of 60 recovered patients has been extracted for this purpose. 

In the western state of Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state, over 40 Muslim coronavirus patients who were discharged from a hospital in Vadodara city have agreed to donate their blood plasma for the treatment.

On Sunday, Delhi’s chief minister Arvind Kejriwal Delhi made an emotional appeal to people who have recovered from the virus to donate their plasma for those fighting for their lives.

“If a Hindu patient is very critical and his life is saved by the plasma of Muslim and vice versa. When God made the world, he made humans and all of them have two eyes, the same body and red blood with the same plasma in all,”  said Kejriwal.