How two South Korean Covid-19 survivors repaid medical staff – in blood
- Grateful at the care they received in hospital, the couple decided to donate their blood – and the antibodies it contained – once they were discharged
- Plasma treatments for the disease can be developed from cured patients’ blood, though experts caution a cure is still some way off
They happily signed up in June when the Onchun Presbyterian Church in Busan, a southern city which reported its first coronavirus case in February, ran a donation drive for blood samples from recovered patients to help develop plasma treatment.
They were taking really good care of us, as if we were their own family members, so we wondered what we could do as a token of appreciation
When Chang-yeon, a paramedic, heard the news that the first coronavirus patient in Busan was an Onchun Church follower, he was worried he might have caught the virus there as he had a runny nose and a fever.
He rushed to a test site where he tested positive, with Kim testing positive soon after.
The couple were subsequently admitted to the Busan Medical Centre in February, where they were treated in different rooms.
“We were deeply thankful to the doctors and nurses at the hospital,” Kim told the Post. “They were taking really good care of us, as if we were their own family members, so we wondered what we could do as a token of appreciation.”