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Survivors of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) have found a new mission in life: to save other COVID-19 patients through donating their blood plasma.

As of April 13, 21 out of 65 COVID-19 survivors in the Philippines have been screened and declared qualified to give blood plasma donations.

Among those who already donated their blood plasma was Senator Sonny Angara, who posted a photo himself during the extraction of blood plasma on Instagram.

Part of his caption reads: “Gave my plasma and it went straight to a hospital in QC to a man on a ventilator- a severe case of COVID19.”

View this post on Instagram

Gave my plasma and it went straight to a hospital in QC to a man on a ventilator- a severe case of COVID19. My wonderful doctors say it could save his life as the antibodies of survivors in past viruses have done. But right now there is just an informal network of hospitals speaking and exchanging notes as to the survivors giving their plasma. DOH and IATF and LGUs pls exchange data re the covid survivors subject to their privacy rights, so that we can help other fight this virus. I wish I could pay it back every day but the protocol is you can only give your plasma as a survivor every 14 days. Pls pass on to any survivor-- they can save lives as we speak! Thanks and pls stay at home and maintain social distancing everyone! #covid19 #bendthecurbe #flattenthecurve #survivor #hope #savinglives #thanksdoctorsandHCWs

A post shared by sonny angara (@sonnyangara) on Apr 12, 2020 at 9:37pm PDT

But how exactly does a survivor's blood plasma help save someone who's infected with COVID-19?

Dr. Jonas del Rosario, Public Affairs Coordinator of the University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH), explained how it works.

“Ang taong gumagaling dito [COVID-19] ay nakaka-acquire ng tinatawag nating antibodies sa dugo.

"So, yung antibodies na 'yon ay nasa plasma. Pwede nilang ibigay 'yon sa ibang may sakit na COVID-19 na lumalaban pa.”

Moreover, he said that they make sure that a survivor is truly negative of COVID-19 before allowing him/her to donate blood.

COVID-19 survivors are only allowed to donate blood two weeks after testing negative and after going through screening.

A COVID-19 survivor donates his blood plasma

Dr. del Rosario also described the process of donating blood plasma. He said, “Fini-filiter 'yon in such a way na plasma lang talaga yung nado-donate niya at yung red blood cells ay bumabalik sa kanya.

"For every 500 mL, isang pasyente po ang makakatanggap.”

Watch the full report about blood plasma donations of COVID-19 survivors in this episode of Stand for Truth.

For more news on the Coronavirus Disease pandemic, go to GMA Network's COVID-19 page.

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