20 more to donate plasma at AIIMS-Patna

PATNA: At least 20 more Covid-recovered patients have come forward to donate plasma at AIIMS-Patna. The donation process will begin on Friday.
More than 13,500 people in the state have recovered from Covid, but so far only 18 have donated their plasma.
This time, five donors, each from Buxar and Nalanda, will also donate their plasma at AIIMS-Patna, which received a nod from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to conduct convalescent plasma therapy to treat seriously ill Covid patients in the last week of April.
Concerned over low rate of plasma donation, the district administration has decided to launch special cells to encourage people. Divisional commissioner Sanjay Kumar Agarwal held a meeting through videoconferencing with Patna DM Kumar Ravi, AIIMS-P administration and DMs and doctors of other districts in order to ensure plasma donation.
Agarwal said plasma donation was the need of the hour. “Keeping in mind the surging cases in the city and elsewhere in the state, plasma therapy can act as a lifesaver for critical patients. Therefore, every recovered patient should voluntarily donate their plasma and contribute their bit in combating the virus,” he said.
He added that those donating plasma will be felicitated. “ Altogether18 donors, including Deepak Kumar of Khajpura, the first plasma donor of the state, will be honoured as ‘Corona Warrior’ by the district administration. Besides, in order to give them a hassle-free experience, special arrangements will be made for the new donors,” he said.
As AIIMS-P has the facility of extracting plasma of four persons in a day, blood transfusion officer Dr Neha Singh said that the capacity might increase in the coming days as per the requirement.
“Plasma therapy has been quite effective on patients who are critically ill. Hence, we expect more people to come forward in the coming days. The therapy involves injecting critical Covid-19 patients with blood plasma from those who have recovered as it has the tendency to fight the virus if injected in other positive patients,” she said.
She added that a ‘Thank You’ card will be given to the donors, which will help them receive one unit blood whenever required in a year.