Customs Inspector Kabir Hossain Sikdaer, 55, was admitted to the United Hospital of Dhaka on June 19 after testing Covid-19 positive, along with his son and daughter.
About 23 days later, colleagues and family members rushed the customs officer to Impulse Hospital in Tejgaon in a critical condition.
The doctors said that one bag of AB+ plasma is urgently needed for the patient. Then his colleagues started frantically looking for plasma donors.
In the meantime, one person called them up saying that he had recovered from coronavirus and expressed interest in donating plasma.
Monirul Islam, Kabir’s friend and customs inspector, told Dhaka Tribune that the person said he was living outside Dhaka and did not have money for transport. If they could send Tk5,000 as transport fare, he would be able to reach Dhaka.
''We sent the money immediately via Bkash and the next day the man said he was staying at a residential hotel in Asadgate, Mohammadpur of Dhaka. He said if we called him, he would come to the hospital in time. But we, the colleagues, and his relatives were waiting for permission from the doctors,” Monirul added.
Monirul said the doctors of Impulse Hospital asked them to bring the plasma donor around 11:30am. “We called the man but his mobile phone was switched off and the Covid-19 victim died on July 28 due to lack of plasma.”
On behalf of the deceased's family, Monirul Islam filed a general diary in Tejgaon Industrial Area police station and later lodged a case on August 22.
Detective Branch (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police apprehended the man from Savar.
The arrested is Alif Islam, 32, a resident of Comilla.
Golam Mostofa Rasel, deputy commissioner of DB (Tejgaon Division), said some people have been cheating coronavirus patients in the name of plasma donations, either individually or in a group, since the Covid-19 pandemic. “We have been able to arrest 3 to 4 such ring members.
“The ring of fraudsters or persons firstly collect the Covid-19 infected family’s mobile number from the hospital and Facebook page. Then they phone the victims posing as plasma donors. But plasma donation has no financial value, like blood donation it is a humanitarian act. So everyone has to be careful,” Golam Mostofa Rasel said.
Earlier, a woman Farzana Yasmin, 49, died at Asgar Ali Hospital in Old Dhaka on June 14. After being admitted to the hospital on May 31 due to coronavirus infection, the doctors said that they needed B-negative plasma for the victim on June 8.
The family tried to collect plasma using multiple ways including the Facebook page “Plasma Bank of Bangladesh (Covid-19)” as it has 200,000 members since the coronavirus pandemic.
The deceased's son Ruslan Adib, talking to Dhaka Tribune, said that a man from Sreepur of Gazipur district called him saying that he would be able to donate plasma and demanded Tk5,000 as transport fare for coming to Dhaka.
Ruslan quickly sent him money by Bkash but he did not come. Then the helpless family paid another person Tk1,000 who had called from Dakshin Khan of Dhaka, but he also cheated them like the previous person.
In this condition, his mother died without getting plasma, Ruslan claimed.
Detective Branch (DB) also detained two fraudsters in this case; the arrested are Sharif Khan, 32, and Hridoy Ahmed, 23.
Police claimed that Covid-19 dedicated hospital staff may have been involved in the ring.
On August 8, a team from Shahbagh police station arrested Ahsanul Farid, 47, from Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery Hospital in Dhaka over allegations of a Covid-19 plasma donation scam. He reportedly collected and sold plasma.
Shahbagh police station Officer In-Charge (OC) Abul Hasan said Farid would look for people who had recovered from Covid-19. Then he would contact them and introduce himself as a relative of a coronavirus infected patient who is in a critical condition and needs a plasma donor.
''After collecting plasma from the victims, he would sell it by various means, including social media, for Tk15,000 to Tk20,000. He is a professional cheater,” OC Abul Hasan claimed.
DMP said at least ten organized rings or individual plasma rings were wandering from hospital to hospital and keeping an eye on the "Plasma Bank of Bangladesh (Covid-19)" Facebook page to defraud Covid-19 patients.
The syndicate members collected details of plasma seekers from social media posts or hospitals. They then pretended to be cured Covid-19 patients and called the seekers, promising to donate plasma.
However, they say they need some money in advance to cover transportation and food costs. Once the money is wired, the syndicate members switch off their phones and go back to looking for more victims in need of plasma.
