Early Times Report
JAMMU, July 10: United Democratic Alliance (UDA) urged upon the Lt Governor J&K, GC Murmu for establishing a ‘plasma bank’ in Jammu for treatment of COVID-19 patients.
In a statement issued here today, Rajiv Mahajan, UDA Spokesperson said plasma therapy involves transfusing plasma from people who have recovered from COVID-19 infection into people who are very sick with the virus or at high risk of severe disease. “The therapy is based on the premise that blood of a patient who has recovered from COVID-19 contains antibodies with the specific ability to fight the novel virus and help the other patient to recover,” he said. Mahajan said “Many people want to donate plasma, but they don’t know how to donate. Plasma bank will provide a centralized place for donors to come forward and donate their plasma,” Mahajan said. “The bank will ease access to plasma and bridge the gap between the donors and recipients,” he added. Rajiv asserted convalescent plasma therapy is showing promising results and has become a ray of hope in the fight against the novel coronavirus. “Plasma therapy trials have been conducted on 35 patients at Lok Nayak Hospital, Delhi and 34 of them have survived,” he said. “Another hospital in Delhi conducted plasma trials on 49 patients and 46 of them survived,” he added. Mahajan said that the process of donating plasma is similar to donating blood and takes about an hour. “The donor is connected to a cell-separating machine, also called an aphaeresis machine that removes plasma, while simultaneously returning the remaining components (red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets) to the donor. The plasma can be stored for up to one year in the plasma bank,” he said. |
