BHUBANESWAR: Odisha Government is all set to start convalescent plasma therapy at three Covid hospitals from Wednesday. The therapy will be rolled out at Ashwini Hospital in Cuttack, SUM and KIMS Covid Hospitals in Bhubaneswar. A dedicated plasma bank has been set up at SCB Medical College and Hospital, designated as the nodal centre for the therapy. It will maintain a centralised registry of patients recovered f rom nove l coronavirus.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will inaugurate the plasma bank on Wednesday. While four persons, including a paediatrician, who have already recovered from Covid-19, have volunteered to donate plasma on the day, more than 300 others have come forward to do the same in the next phases. As part of the therapy, blood plasma from recovered patients will be administered to Covid -19 patients with their consent as well as approval of the treating doctor, ethical committee and technical committee. Additional Chief Secretary of Health department Pradipta Mohapatra said convalescent plasma will be considered in patients with moderate disease.
“The three hospitals will decide as per requirement and consent of treating doctor and patient,” he said. As decided, blood plasma will be collected from willing Covid recovered patients, aged between 20 and 40 years, at least 28 days after their complete recovery from the disease. It has been planned to store plasma of different blood groups in the bank. A recovered person can save the lives of two Covid patients. “Most of the NDRF, ODRAF and Fire Services personnel who were affected during the cyclone restoration work in West Bengal have agreed to donate plasma. We will also create awareness and encourage other recovered persons in the 20-40 age bracket to come forward to save lives,” Mohapatra added.
Since the Covid situation in Ganjam, Khurda, Cuttack, Jajpur and Sundargarh has emerged a big challenge, the State Government has planned to add 200 more ICU beds with ventilator support in these districts. A decision has also been taken to allow empanelled private laboratories and hospitals to conduct rapid antigen tests at `450. A notification in this regard will be issued on Wednesday.