ISLAMABAD: A recovered patient of coronavirus refused to donate his blood plasma to a critical Covid patient due to the recipient's Shia sect. A middle-aged man at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), Islamabad was admitted to the hospital after being infected with the deadly virus. When his condition turned critical a few days ago, the family went out in search for plasma of a recovered patient.
A number of concerned citizens including medical students currently working to connect plasma donors and recipients managed to find a donor for the patient, but when he was informed about the details of the recipient; he immediately backed out. A member of the said group Anzala Kazmi told Naya Daur that the donor refused to give his plasma when he found out that the patient who will receive it was Shia by faith.
Kazmi had first posted this information on her Facebook page, after which Naya Daur reached out to her to get details.
Name of the donor is not being published on the source's request. Anzala Kazmi told Naya Daur that she has been working to help coronavirus patients find donors. "I've come across many absurdities with respect to donors’ approach towards donation, but neither me nor my team had expected a refusal based on faith of the recipient.
The reason why I don’t want to name the donor is that my intention wasn't to bash an individual, but to highlight the intolerant mindset sadly prevalent in our society", she says.
However, the team managed to find another donor for the said patient and he is now recovering from the virus.
This is not the first act of bigotry in Pakistan during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. In March, some extremist residents of Karachi’s Delhi colony had refused to accept donation from an NGO, on grounds that they don’t accept charity from ‘Ahmadiyya community’. The volunteers distributing food were then forced out of the colony.
A number of concerned citizens including medical students currently working to connect plasma donors and recipients managed to find a donor for the patient, but when he was informed about the details of the recipient; he immediately backed out. A member of the said group Anzala Kazmi told Naya Daur that the donor refused to give his plasma when he found out that the patient who will receive it was Shia by faith.
Kazmi had first posted this information on her Facebook page, after which Naya Daur reached out to her to get details.
Name of the donor is not being published on the source's request. Anzala Kazmi told Naya Daur that she has been working to help coronavirus patients find donors. "I've come across many absurdities with respect to donors’ approach towards donation, but neither me nor my team had expected a refusal based on faith of the recipient.
The reason why I don’t want to name the donor is that my intention wasn't to bash an individual, but to highlight the intolerant mindset sadly prevalent in our society", she says.
However, the team managed to find another donor for the said patient and he is now recovering from the virus.
This is not the first act of bigotry in Pakistan during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. In March, some extremist residents of Karachi’s Delhi colony had refused to accept donation from an NGO, on grounds that they don’t accept charity from ‘Ahmadiyya community’. The volunteers distributing food were then forced out of the colony.