Cuttack: In a first in the state, doctors used plasma therapy to save the life of a COVID-19 patient at the dedicated Ashwini COVID Hospital in Cuttack, informed state government’s technical adviser on COVID-19 Jayant Panda, Thursday.
The benefactor was a 48-year-old man who was critically ill due to COVID-19 infection and is undergoing treatment at the hospital. One unit of B+ plasma was transferred to the patient.
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The therapy involves the separation of antibodies from a person cured of the novel coronavirus and its subsequent infusion into the vein of the COVID-19 patient.
The procedure requires volunteers who have recovered from COVID-19 and are above the age of 18. They can donate plasma, the yellowish liquid component of the blood between the first and fourth months after recovery.
Four persons of different blood groups who had recovered from COVID-19 before some weeks including a doctor had donated their plasma at the SCB Medical College and Hospital.
However Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had inaugurated the COVID Plasma Bank at SCB Medical College and Hospital Wednesday. Odisha is the third state in the country after Delhi and Maharashtra to launch Plasma Bank.
The three hospitals where plasma therapy will be used are KIIMS, SUM in this city, and Ashwini Hospital in Cuttack, while SCB Medical College is the nodal agency for the therapy.
PNN