Drugs, doctors and donors: Pakistanis turn to 'Corona Warriors' Facebook group

Published June 30, 2020
A man walks under a billboard that shows gratitude to frontline workers fighting against the spread of the Covid-19 in Rawalpindi on June 30.  —  AFP
A man walks under a billboard that shows gratitude to frontline workers fighting against the spread of the Covid-19 in Rawalpindi on June 30. — AFP

When musician Zoraiz Riaz set up a Facebook group to help coordinate convalescent plasma donations for people fighting Covid-19 in Pakistan, he expected perhaps a few hundred responses.

Within a month, however, the 'Corona Recovered Warriors' group had more than 320,000 members, needing a team of 33 volunteers to manage posts from families of patients across Pakistan seeking advice.

“Around 85 per cent are looking for plasma,” Riaz, 27, told Reuters from his home in Lahore, one of the hardest-hit cities in the country, which has recorded nearly 210,000 infections and over 4,300 deaths from the virus.

“The rest are looking for different medical supplies, oxygen, ventilators, injections for drugs, or leads on hospitals that have availability,” Riaz added.

The scale of the response highlights the large gap left by a disorganised healthcare system which is ill-equipped to offer systematic guidance as Covid-19 deaths mount.

Plasma rush

The group this week featured the country's top expert giving advice on convalescent plasma treatment.

“There was no clear guidance from the government, and we had to face this urgent amount of requests for plasma from almost everyone, even people whose medical consultants were not recommending it were coming to us asking for plasma,” Riaz said.

Plasma treatment, involving the infusion of plasma from a recovered Covid-19 patient to a recovering one as a source of antibodies, is widely sought despite limited information on its effectiveness.

Leading haematologists in the country warned this month the treatment had become widespread and that government guidelines were urgently needed — particularly with a burgeoning black market for plasma.

Health officials finally put in place national standards for plasma treatment and warned the public that the sale of plasma is illegal.

But many families with sick loved ones had already sought guidance from the Facebook group, with volunteer physicians answering questions about plasma and linking donors and recipients to bypass the black market.

"Each request for plasma," Riaz says, "is screened by volunteers who require medical documentation from physicians showing the treatment is viable. Donors are also screened to ensure no one is selling the plasma."

Members are also offering ventilators and oxygen tanks to hospitals, and home-cooked food for families of patients or those in quarantine.

Many offer advice on hospitals with available beds or where to find drugs prescribed by doctors, which are not easily available from markets because the government has been unable to control hoarding and profiteering amid the pandemic.

'Corona Recovered Warriors' isn't the only social media platform being used by desperate families.

'Blood Donors Pakistan', set up in 2011 using Twitter to connect families with blood donors, is also getting more than 50 requests a day.

“When your family is in this condition, whatever remedy [available], even if not effective, is something they try to use,” Usama Mehmood Khan, who helps run the platform, told Reuters.

Opinion

Editorial

Judiciary’s SOS
Updated 28 Mar, 2024

Judiciary’s SOS

The ball is now in CJP Isa’s court, and he will feel pressure to take action.
Data protection
28 Mar, 2024

Data protection

WHAT do we want? Data protection laws. When do we want them? Immediately. Without delay, if we are to prevent ...
Selling humans
28 Mar, 2024

Selling humans

HUMAN traders feed off economic distress; they peddle promises of a better life to the impoverished who, mired in...
New terror wave
Updated 27 Mar, 2024

New terror wave

The time has come for decisive government action against militancy.
Development costs
27 Mar, 2024

Development costs

A HEFTY escalation of 30pc in the cost of ongoing federal development schemes is one of the many decisions where the...
Aitchison controversy
Updated 27 Mar, 2024

Aitchison controversy

It is hoped that higher authorities realise that politics and nepotism have no place in schools.