by Tahir Bhat

SRINAGAR: Four engineering students have started an innovative platform, plasmakashmir.com, to facilitate the search for blood plasma donors in Kashmir. Though not a sure treatment, the SKIMS in Srinagar has started plasma therapy in certain cases.

Recovered COVID-19 patients donate plasma in Srinagar on July 22 ,2020. KL Image by Bilal Bahadur

Syed Fahad a student of NIT Srinagar along with his three friends Hanan Raina, Emaad Mir and Koshan Qari started working on the website on July 20 Plasma Kashmir that helps create patient-donor matches. Dr Shariq Shaheen Khaki (PhD) Resident Biochemistry, GMC Anantnag is Technical Advisor of Plasma Kashmir.

So far, the website has garnered around at least 36 registrations while helping patients and donors in Kashmir.

“We saw people faced with a lot of trouble finding a plasma donor. That is when my friends and I decided to create this website,” Syed Fahad Programmer of Plasma Kashmir website said. The people in desperation are using contacts and the social media to manage the plasma.

People can register on the website, either as a patient or as a donor. The registration process involves filling in ones contact details, blood group and medical history so that an accurate match can be facilitated, he said.

The site matches patients with donors based on the pre-defined criteria and then they can contact each other. “Our role ends here,” said Fahad.

Asked about the data security aspect of the website, Fahad said, “We take a consent form at the time of registration, according to which we are allowed to use their contact information only for the patient-donor matching purpose. We do not share any data with the third party or use it otherwise.”

Around 10-volunteers are working across Kashmir to create awareness and spread the word through social media, he said.

“We really don’t know what will happen next, all we know is we want to help as many people as possible,” Fahad said.He appealed the recovered patients to donate the plasma and save lives.

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