THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: “Need B positive plasma for treating a Covid patient. The plasma should come from those Covid patients who had recovered before June 24,” says an advertisement placed by the Government Medical College Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram, on Wednesday. Similar pleas are also coming from other Covid-19 treatment centres. It is being pointed out that such pleas could have been avoided if the state had set up regional plasma banks.
With India’s first plasma bank for helping Covid-19 patients coming up in Delhi on July 2, demand is also growing in the state to start a similar initiative. Plasma banks will help shorten the time taken for the administration of convalescent plasma to severe/critical patients.“The state is now witnessing an upward trend of active cases. Also, the projections point to a flare-up of cases. In such a scenario, ensuring easy access to plasma is paramount. By establishing such banks, better coordination with the patients who have recovered from Covid-19 and who are eligible to donate plasma could also be ensured,” said an officer of the health department.
According to him, incidents of treatment centres scampering for plasma donors could then be avoided. The recently released Covid-19 Death Audit Report by the health department has recommended that the authorities concerned should ensure that all modalities of treatment are available in all districts, including convalescent plasma therapy. As per a decision taken on May 27, convalescent plasma could be administered on a compassionate basis for treating severe/critical Covid-19 patients.
An officer who is part of the state expert committee on Covid-19 said, “Plasma banks will be like blood banks. Through these, the procurement of plasma will be easy and the eligible patient could be administered the same without any delay.”
Under convalescent plasma treatment, antibodies from the blood of those who had fought off SARS-CoV-2 are isolated and injected into a patient who is infected. It is expected that the antibodies will stimulate the sick patient’s immunity system to better fight the disease.
As per a protocol prepared by the state, use of convalescent plasma may be considered among the laboratory-confirmed cases of Covid-19. The treatment will be used if a patient has one or more life-threatening conditions like respiratory failure, septic shock and multi-organ dysfunction or failure. Only those who are above 18 years of age and have a body weight greater than 55kg can donate plasma.