ITS Chancellor Prof. Ir Mochamad Ashari M Eng Ph.D. when opening his remarks at the launch of the ITS PlasmaHub digital platform

ITS Campus, ITS News – During the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of applications for convalescent plasma (PK) is not comparable to the stock available at the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI). On the other hand, many Covid-19 survivors do not know that they can donate PK to active Covid-19 patients. Based on this, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) developed and launched PlasmaHub, a digital platform to shorten the matching time between PK donors and applicants, Friday (23/7).

In his remarks, ITS Chancellor, Professor Ir Mochamad Ashari MEng Ph.D. said, PlasmaHub was designed and designed with a user-friendly concept because it is used thoroughly by various stakeholders in Indonesia. “Starting from donors, donor recipients, to PK donor managers are expected to be able to make good use of PlasmaHub,” said the professor of Electrical Engineering, who is familiarly called Ashari.

Continuing Ashari’s explanation, ITS Covid-19 Task Force Chair Adjie Pamungkas ST MDevPlg Ph.D. explained, this web-based PlasmaHub serves to speed up the meeting of PK donors with Covid-19 patients. “This speed is expected to take advantage of the patient’s golden time,” he added.

The Quality Manager of the Central PMI Blood Donor Unit (UDD), Dr. Saptuti Chunaeni M Biomed, explained the role of PMI in the Convalescent Plasma donor process to Covid-19 patients.

Meanwhile, Chairman of the East Java Indonesian Young Entrepreneurs Association (HIPMI) Rois Sunandar Maming said that requests for PK donors were received by HIPMI management almost every day. However, there are still lives that cannot be saved due to a lack of PK stock and not finding a suitable donor. “The presence of PlasmaHub can help bring together patients with the right donors in a short time and inspire Covid-19 survivors to donate PK,” explained Rois.

The same thing was expressed by the Quality Manager of the Blood Donor Unit (UDD) of PMI Center, Dr dr Saptuti Chunaeni MBiomed. Saptuti explained, the difficulty experienced by PMI at this time was that there were very few Covid-19 survivor donors who met the requirements according to the standard of Good Manufacturing Practices (CPOB) at BPOM, so that very few PKs could be taken to be donated to Covid-19 patients.

Head of the ITS Covid-19 Task Force Adjie Pamungkas ST MDevPlg Ph.D. explained the function of the ITS PlasmaHub, which was launched.

Furthermore, Saptuti said, the presence of PlasmaHub can help provide and shorten PK matching between donors and applicants. However, in this case, the donor and the applicant are not directly met. But through Plasmahub ITS and UDD PMI equipped with a cover letter from the hospital (RS) to minimize irresponsible parties who can take advantage of this crisis.

So, in this case, according to Saptuti, the function of UDD PMI is to connect survivors and Covid-19 patients who need PK donors. “In the process, we still hope that the confidentiality of this donor information can be maintained on the PlasmaHub platform,” he reminded.

Various features provided in ITS PlasmaHub are explained in a video by the ITS Covid-19 Handling Preparedness Technical Team.

Edy Sukotjo, Chair of the East Java Covid-19 Survivors Alumni Association, admitted that he appreciates ITS’s steps which have made the PK donor process done manually so far been digitized through the PlasmaHub platform. “With the PlasmaHub, hopefully, more lives can be saved from the ferocity of Covid-19,” he hoped.

PlasmaHub itself was developed by volunteers from the ITS Covid-19 Handling Preparedness Technical Team, and supported by community partners of the East Java Covid-19 Alumni Association, the Community of Blood Donor Friends, Center for Excellence in Science and Technology – Artificial Intelligence for Healthcare and Society (PUI-AIHeS) ITS, Room Trade and Industry (Kadin) Surabaya, and HIPMI East Java.

Participants who attended virtually the ITS PlasmaHub launch event, which consisted of ITS officials and stakeholder partners supporting the development of PlasmaHub

Meanwhile, the beta version of PlasmaHub displays bloodstock information in several cities in East Java and is planned to be expanded more widely in the next version. Various features are inserted, such as donor-recipient matching, plasma stock, and screening reminder. PlasmaHub was previously tested on July 19, 2021, and has paired PKs from 28 donors with Covid-19 patients.

Information regarding the technical use of PlasmaHub, as well as guidelines for submitting applications and distributing PK donors, can be seen in full on the https://plasmahub.its.ac.id// page. (far/ITS Public Relation)

Reporter: Ferdian Wibowo