HUBBALLI: With increasing demand to set up a plasma bank in North Karnataka, Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) in Hubballi has been acting as a substitute for the last month.Critical Covid patients from neighbouring districts like Gadag, Haveri, Uttara Kannada, Bagalkot, Ballari, Koppal, Belagavi are being shifted to the hospital for treatment.Till now, more than 50 convalescent plasma therapy procedures have been conducted at KIMS and other private hospitals in Hubballi city alone. However, due to a lack of donors, most hospitals have been struggling to get plasma units.
A senior doctor from KIMS said they recently got an Apheresis machine and license from the DGCI. “We can store 200 units of plasma for a year. KIMS can distribute plasma to other hospitals,” he added.However, plasma collected at KIMS is not sufficient to treat in-house patients. “There is need to create awareness among recovered patients to donate plasma,” he said.Dharwad DC Nitesh Patil said plasma extraction costs around Rs 10,000 and hospitals are doing it for free. “To encourage donors, we are giving Rs 5,000,” he said.