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MANIPAL: A month ago, the Manipal Institute of Technology (MIT) campus was declared a containment zone, and gradually around 1,000 Covid-19 cases were reported from the campus.

It had been a difficult phase for the students, but now, many have come forward to lend a helping hand to those suffering due to the pandemic.

Sociio that aims at connecting people socially, has commenced work on project Ichor.

This project connects potential donors with compatible patients who need convalescent plasma, basically bridging the gap between the donors and the patients.

Sociio Ichor is an initiative by engineering students Manorath Khanna, Pratik Shewkani, Mohammed Dilshaad Uzair, Amulya Kollipara, Abhishek Gupta, and Arushi Agrawal., with Dr Arun Shanbhag, Chief Innovation Officer, manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), as the mentor for Sociio.

Dilshaad Uzair told TOI, “Last year, during a food donation drive during the lockdown in Hyderabad, one of our volunteer’s sister was hospitalised, and was in need of platelets. I volunteered, but as compatibility was being checked, we received the news that she was no more. This incident motivated me to work on a blood donation platform, to help people across the country.”

The team has designed a website for Covid-19 patients, that checks the donor’s eligibility for plasma donation.

If all eligibility criteria are fulfilled, then the donor’s contact and local details are sought.

A form gets contact details from patients who need plasma.

The patient is matched with a donor with a compatible blood group, in the same or neighbouring city. The matching is done by an algorithm, he said.

The team is working on the automation of the entire process, and have also created an Instagram handle.

“We have noticed the demand for plasma therapy rising due to a surge in cases. With our limited resources and time, we were able to connect around 59 patients with donors in Delhi, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, West Bengal and Mumbai. Interestingly, the number of patients reaching out is more than the donors. The students from Manipal are scattered across India, and hence we are confident of reaching out to people across India,” said Dilshaad.