MABALACAT CITY — After facing hardships and the stigma that comes with the virus, 26 police on-the-job trainees who survived the coronavirus disease donated their blood plasma to help save critically ill Covid-19 patients.
The plasma donation is a joint initiative of the Philippine National Police, Pamisaupan Kapampangan, Philippine Red Cross, Philippine Society of Gastroenterology, Clark Development Corp., and theBases Conversion and Development Authority. The event was held August 4 at the PRC in Port Area Manila.
Some 200 PNP OJTs of the Regional Special Training Unit 3 (RSTU 3) headed by Col. Frederick Obar were trained and isolated for seven months in the Magalang Training Center of the PNP before the pandemic started.
Around the time that they graduated, the lockdown was announced and they were pulled out of the training center and brought to the Regional Special Training Center barracks inside Clark. There, they manned control points around Angeles City as their OJT, which began during the extended community quarantine and lasted for three months until the general community quarantine was imposed.
After a vendor in the Pampang public market passed away due to Covid-19 and since they were at risk of being exposed to the virus while manning the control points around the city a frontliners, Obar facilitated theswab testing of the OJTs at the PRC Molecular Laboratory in Clark. This was made possible through the kindness of Sen. Richard Gordon, BCDA chair Vince Dizon who is also deputy chief implementer of the National Action Plan against Covid-19, and Pamisaupan Kapampangan co-founder Dr. Rowena Mangubat.
Of the 200 OJTs swab tested for Covid-19, 26 turned out to be positive.
“The OJTs who tested positive were ostracized by some members of the public even though they got exposed to the virus only while in service as frontliners manning the control points around Angeles City,” said Mangubat. They were quarantined for 14 days at the ASEAN Convention Center (ACC) facility until all 26 of them fully recovered under the care and supervision of Dr. Maria Clemencita Dobles, CDC health and sanitation department manager, and Dr. Augusto Galang, head physician at the ACC and New Clark City Quarantine Facility and president of the Philippine Society of Gastroenterology.
With the 26 OJT-cops surviving the virus, Obar and Mangubat decided to try to change the perception of being a Covid-19 survivor by having the survivors donate their plasma to the critically ill patients. This was made possible through the RSTU 3’s program “Be a Superhero Donate Plasma” of Covid-19 Survivors.
“It is through the joint efforts and partnership between the public and the private sector that we can defeat Covid-19,” said Obar. “From being ostracized by the very community they were serving, these 26 survivors are now heroes who have helped increase the chances of survival of other critically ill Covid patients.”
A portion of the plasma donated will be given to the PRC, the Philippine General Hospital, and the Philippine Society of Gastroenterology under their program PSG C.A.R.E.S. (Covid-19 Advisory Recommendations for Enhanced Safety) allocated equally to healthcare workers, frontliners, and the general public.
“We hope to inspire other Covid survivors to not be ashamed of getting the virus and to donate their life-saving blood plasma so we can help more critically ill patients. The donated plasma will also be used for research at the Jose B. Lingad Memorial Regional Hospital” Mangubat added.
The National Capital Region Transport Corp declared 182 Covid-19 survivors fit to donate their blood plasma, while the Regional Training Center 4A approved the plasma donation of 20 Covid survivors.
Headed by PNP Training Institute director Maj. Gen.Ramon Rafael, Col. Malabed and Col. Celedio, this donation will be held in the National Training Camp in Barangay Dumuit, Lucena. If you are a Covid survivor and would like to donate your life-saving blood plasma, please contact Dr. Katrina Dela Peña at +(63)9995556802 from Mondays to Fridays, 8 AM to 3 PM. You may also course your donations through the Philippine Red Cross by contacting +(63)9175820499 from Mondays to Fridays, 8 AM to 5 PM and at Jose B.Lingad Memorial General Hospital.
