Cuttack: Plasma therapeutic treatment of critical COVID-19 patients was launched in the state recently.
Donor registration, screening and counseling for collection of plasma began at SCB Medical College and Hospital (SCBMCH) Cuttack Friday.
Eight packets of blood plasma were collected for the purpose last Wednesday. Two packets were given to Ashwini Hospital in the city for treatment of critical COVID-19 patients while four packets were given to SUM Hospital Bhubaneswar. The remaining two packets of blood plasma have been kept in reserve for future requirements, SCBMCH superintendent’s office sources informed.
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Notably, first ever COVID-19 infected warrior doctor in the state and pediatric specialist of Cuttack City Hospital Dr Bidhubhusan Panda was the first donor of plasma. Four others namely Manoj Kumar Baral, Abinash Rout and Pankaj Behera also donated after him.
Several donors have voluntarily contacted SCBMCH authorities and registered their names soon after the start of collection. Many of the donors are National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and Fire Brigade personnel who had returned from Cyclone Amphan restoration duty in West Bengal but later got infected from COVID-19, the hospital’s Transfusion Medicine department officials said.
All voluntary donors shall undergo COVID-19 test and other ancillary tests, on the very first outset. As per norms of the state government, a donor should be in the age group of 20 to 50 years with minimum body weight of 55 kg and should have got cured from COVID-19 infection not less than four weeks before donating.
The norms for women donors will remain the same except that the donor must not be an expectant mother or have given birth to a child in near past, SCBMCH sources added.
Apheresis machine plays a crucial role in collecting blood plasma in which the blood of a person is passed through an apparatus. The apparatus separates out one particular constituent from blood and returns the remainder for circulation in the donor’s body.
This machine is also used for obtaining blood platelets. However, the only machine which is now in use at SCBMCH had been lying defunct for over five years at the blood bank here and for over ten years at Red Cross blood bank.
Cuttack has to depend on hospitals in Bhubaneswar for blood plasma and platelet separation. After the Transfusion Medicine department of SCBMCH was announced as a nodal centre in plasma therapy as well as a plasma bank, one more new Apheresis machine has been given. Another such machine is also expected in the future days.
PNN