Assam Deputy Speaker washes plasma donor's feet to honour him

GUWAHATI: Assam Assembly Deputy Speaker Aminul Haque Laskar honoured a plasma donor by washing his feet.

Laskar had tested positive for Covid-19 and recovered through plasma therapy. He said he had washed the feet of the plasma donor, Nabidul Islam Laskar, to pay his respects to him.

“The plasma donors give lives. I was infected with the virus of Covid-19 and plasma donated by someone I do not know saved my life. We don’t get to see God but the plasma donors are no less than Him. They are our God,” Laskar told this newspaper.

The Deputy Speaker, who represents the Sonai seat in Cachar, had tested positive during an antigen test on July 28. He was admitted to the intensive care unit of a hospital with complaints of breathlessness. As the hospital had no plasma bank, plasma had to be brought from Guwahati for his treatment. He was discharged on August 8 following recovery.

“I am alive today because I got plasma. I have taken a decision that I will wash the feet of any plasma donor from the Barak Valley, no matter which community s/he comes from or what religion s/he practises,” Laskar added.

The 54-year-old is the only Muslim to be elected to the Assam Assembly on a BJP ticket in the 2016 polls. He was elected as the Assembly Deputy Speaker in 2019.

Last month, Assam’s Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had announced that the plasma donors would get preferential treatment in job interviews and government facilities in the future.

Appealing to the Covid-19-recovered to donate plasma, he had said that the observations in the US and India were that plasma therapy has no negative impact and 90% Covid-19 patients recover if plasma could be given in a moderate state of illness.

Responding to his call, a lot of people donated plasma. Sarma keeps sharing the photos of the “plasma heroes” on his Twitter handle.