DKMS BMST Foundation India, a non-profit organization, involved in the fight against blood cancer and other blood disorders by providing lifesaving blood stem cell transplants from unrelated donors came forward and donated buccal swabs to Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases, Susheela Ramprasad Charitable Trust, NIMHANS and CMC Vellore to facilitate and support testing for COVID-19. This move came after the outbreak and rise of corona virus cases in India along with Karnataka

While the country crosses over 12,000 COVID-19 cases, Karnataka alone has seen over 275 active cases as reported by the union ministry. Amidst this current crisis, there has been an increased need for equipment by the testing centers that will help test for COVID-19. “The number of COVID-19 cases is increasing every day and the need of the hour is to extend our full support to these centers who are conducting screening for the virus. To facilitate testing and to identify coronavirus cases from the growing number of samples, we are donating these buccal swabs. In the coming weeks we plan to donate more buccal swabs to testing centres across India. We remain committed and will continue our cooperation in tackling the COVID-19 situation.” said Mr. Patrick Paul, CEO, DKMS BMST Foundation India.

DKMS-BMST uses these buccal swabs to collect important tissue cells from the cheeks, in order to register potential blood stem cell donors. The swab sample is then taken for HLA testing in the laboratory, and the details are entered into the database which is then available for the transplant physicians during a search for blood stem cell donors.

"It is indeed a kind gesture by DKMS BMST Foundation India in providing swabs to our center. It will help increase our testing capabilities for COVID-19. The lack of swabs shouldn’t be the reason for the spread of the virus and no person should remain unchecked. Even to take random sampling and free screening to see what’s going on in the society, we need more and more swabs,” said Dr. C Nagaraja, Director, Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases, who also thanked DKMS-BMST for their generosity.

“We are really thankful to DKMS-BMST for this kind gesture which will help facilitate the COVID-19 testing in the city”, said Dr. Jayaram N Iyengar from Susheela Ramprasad Charitable Trust. These Buccal Swabs are a critical component in the test kits used for testing COVID-19. In the testing procedure, the doctors use the swab to collect a sample from inside of the throat or nose.