BENGALURU: To combat the surge in Covid-19 cases, the state government, in association with the Covid India Campaign and HCG Hospital in Bengaluru, on Tuesday launched the state’s first plasma bank, COPE (Covid Plasma Endeavour). It was inaugurated at HCG Hospital by Deputy Chief Minister Dr C N Ashwath Narayan and MP Tejasvi Surya.
So far, only 10 donors have come forward to donate plasma, which is given to critical Covid patients. An online registry too was opened a few days ago to help patients place their requests. Till now, five of the eight patients who were administered plasma have recovered. The three others who died were very critical. The country has only four to five plasma banks, and the first was launched in New Delhi earlier this month.
Dr Vishal Rao, Regional Director, Head & Neck Surgical Oncology, HCG Global, said, “We need to strengthen our fight against the virus. Plasma therapy has shown encouraging results in clinical trial settings, especially in critical Covid patients. We need more people who have recovered from the infection to donate plasma so that we can save innocent lives.”