PANAJI: CM Pramod Sawant on Wednesday said that
plasma therapy for critically ill
Covid
patients will start next week.
“We should be able to start plasma therapy next week. The machine for deriving plasma from recovered Covid patients has been ordered and will be delivered in three days,” Sawant told reporters post his meeting with health minister Vishwajit Rane.
GMC will collect plasma from those who have recovered, Rane said.
Dean of the Goa Medical College (GMC), S M Bandekar, has been directed to appoint special technicians required to operate the machine as well as a doctor with a degree in transfusion medicine, on contract basis, on priority, the chief minister said.
Two weeks after they have recovered, willing persons will be called to donate their plasma, Sawant said. So far, 1,156 patients have recovered and eight have died.
As of Wednesday, there were 106 symptomatic patients admitted at the Covid-ESI hospital, Margao.
“We have all the infrastructure ready to store plasma. I have spoken to patients from Delhi who have recovered after undergoing the plasma therapy to understand their experience,” Rane said.
The health minister also stated that all measures outlined in the latest Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)’s clinical management protocol for Covid-19 protocol, including Remdesivir, Fabiflu and Toxilizumba have been taken.
The first consignment of Remdesivir was expected on Wednesday, Rane said.
In another meeting held on Wednesday, which was chaired by Sawant, a strategy for tackling the
pandemic
in Tiswadi taluka was decided. Whether declaring a containment zone or opening a Covid care centre, the MLAs concerned will be consulted, Sawant said.
Replying to a question, Sawant said that BJP Cuncolim MLA Clafacio Dias’ condition is stable and that he is not on ventilator support. “The doctors at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi, were consulted. He is stable,” Sawant said.
Dias and his family tested positive last week, and since then are under treatment at the Covid-ESI hospital.
Rane said there is no shortage of beds at the Covid-ESI hospital and that asymptomatic patients have already been shifted to various Covid care centres.
“If required, we can have a second Covid hospital in the state,” he said.
He also stated that his department has moved a file to the government to explore the possibility of outsourcing some services, such as providing food to patients at Covid care centres.
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