Delhi government to setup plasma bank

Delhi government is going to setup a ‘Plasma Bank’ for the treatment of COVID-19 patients in the national capital, Chief Minister (CM) Arvind Kejriwal announced on Monday (29 June), Times Now reported.

The CM, while addressing a press conference, said the bank will be operational in the next two day at the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS) in Delhi.

Kejriwal said, “Government or private hospitals in which the patient is being treated can prescribe plasma therapy after which ILBS can be approached.”

Plasma therapy involves injecting blood-component plasma extracted from a cured coronavirus patient into a positive case for treatment.

According to the Delhi CM, his government has held a clinical trial of plasma therapy on at least 29 coronavirus patients. The results of those trials turned out to be good, he added.

The Chief Minister also urged cured patients to come forward to donate plasma and said that they will be provided taxi service to and from the hospital.

“I appeal to COVID-19 recovered patients to donate their plasma… Anyone who needs plasma will need a recommendation from a doctor,” Kejriwal said.

A contact number will also be made operational, on which people can call or message to inform the authorities that they want to donate plasma.

“People have this misconception that they will contract coronavirus again if they step into a hospital. I want to inform them that the possibility of contracting the virus again is low and, moreover, ILBS is not a COVID hospital,” he emphasised.

Kejriwal, however, informed that plasma therapy is not a sanjeevani booti (divine herb) and those in the last stage of disease or with co-morbidities and on ventilator support cannot be easily saved. “Only those at a moderate stage can be saved.”

He added that Delhi government-run LNJP Hospital administered this therapy to 35 people, of which 34 survived, while another private hospital administered it to 49 patients and 46 survived.

Delhi is the worst-COVID-hit city in the country with 83,077 total confirmed cases until Monday morning. The national capital also has a high COVID-19 fatality rate and 2,623 people have so far succumbed to the infection.

While 52,607 people have been cured or discharged in the city, there are currently 27,847 active cases in Delhi. – IANS