Broadcast journalist Howie Severino donates blood plasma to PGH after COVID-19 recovery

In a Facebook post on Wednesday, Severino explained the process in order to encourage other COVID-19 survivors to donate their plasma.

"I’m donor number 38 at PGH (Philippine General Hospital), although the process actually took place in a classroom at the nearby UP College of Medicine, so it’s not in a hospital setting with its higher risk of infection. Others choose to donate at other hospitals, but donors are still a small fraction of the survivors who form the pool of potential donors,” he said.


Medical experts at PGH are using convalescent plasma therapy to help patients who are positive for COVID-19.

The journalist has shared photos of him hooked into the machine, which separates the yellow fluid from the blood.


“Surprisingly, the liquid gold as the doctors call it is that color. The med techs were handling it like a newborn baby, and they also let me hold it like I was a mother who just gave birth,” he said.

Severino said a committee of doctors decides on who will receive the plasma, however, there is an ongoing debate whether it should be given only to the gravely ill or also the moderately ill.


“That choice becomes less wrenching if more survivors donate plasma, and more patients receive it, which is one reason for doing this story assuring potential donors that this process is not dangerous or scary, and perhaps one of the easiest ways to save a life,” he underscored.

The journalist assured the potential donors that this process “is not dangerous and perhaps one of the easiest ways to save a life.”

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