THE NHS has urged Covid-19 survivors of South Asian heritage to donate their plasma to help save lives in the fight against the deadly virus.
According to experts, people from a South Asian backgrounds were nearly twice as likely to have high-enough antibodies for life-saving treatment trials, compared with white people.
In an appeal issued on Friday (21), the NHS said antibody rich plasma was being sought urgently in view of a looming second wave of the pandemic.
Rekha Anand, a consultant haematologist with NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT), said she hoped to sustain the "fantastic response" so far from the Asian community.
"Covid-19 is attacking the Asian community more than the wider community and donating plasma could save a life," she added.
NHSBT said people of Asian heritage had been donating in strong numbers, at over 7 per cent of all plasma donors, and sought to highlight that plasma donation was simple procedure.
"Plasma donation is safe, clean and easy," said Dr Shruthi Narayan, a consultant in donor medicine (NHSBT). "It takes about 45 minutes and your body quickly replaces the plasma and the antibodies. Because your red blood cells are returned to you, you can carry on with your day as normal.”
Several reports have noted that people from South Asian communities faced a higher risk of becoming seriously ill due to Covid-19. Emerging evidence shows that the more seriously ill people become, the more antibodies they produce.
This seems to be borne out in statistics as NHSBT found that among first-time donors from an Asian background, 44.1 per cent (330 out of 749) had high enough antibodies for the trial, compared with 22.4 per cent (2,126 out of 9,509) of white donors.
"Some people may feel nervous about donating, particularly if they’ve had a tough time with coronavirus," said Dr Suhail Asghar, from NHSBT’s Clinical Support Team. "Our donation team will look after you, and people usually feel fantastic after donating, knowing they are doing something to help the community."
Plasma donor centres have been set up across all major towns and cities of the UK, especially those with a significant South Asian population, such as Birmingham, Bradford, Cambridge, Lancaster, Leicester, Liverpool, Stratford, Manchester, Oxford, and London’s West End.
"Plasma donation is a way to help those who are in need," Dr Naim Akhtar, a consultant in donor medicine (NHSBT). "By donating plasma, you could help someone to survive from Covid and spend more time with their family."
The NHS plasma donation campaign followed a government appeal earlier this week to people of South Asian origin to sign up for Covid-19 vaccine trials.
A targeted recruitment programme broadcast in Gujarati, Punjabi, Bengali and Urdu was among the measures deployed to reach out to various communities.
