(Bhagya Luxmi, Intern Journalist) Research has found that ‘plasma therapy’ is very effective in this disease. Keeping this in mind, on Tuesday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal inaugurated the second plasma bank in Loknayak Jayaprakash Hospital (LNJP) in Delhi. LNJP Hospital is the largest hospital in Delhi to treat COVID-19 patients. This hospital has 2000 beds for COVID-19 patients. The Delhi government inaugurated the country’s first plasma bank at the Institute of Liver and Biliary Science on 2 July. Apart from this, preparations are underway to set up a third plasma bank in Delhi at Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital under the Delhi government.
Let’s know what plasma therapy is? How likely is it for patients to be healthy? Why are plasma banks being built?
- What is plasma bank
When a person suffering from COVID-19 becomes healthy, then antibodies get inbuilt in his blood, which improves immunity against COVID-19. Since these antibodies are present in the plasma of the recovered patient, the doctors will collect the plasma in the assessed amount and will inject it into the patient suffering from this Infection. When this plasma is injected into the blood of a COVID-19 patient, antibodies against COVID-19 start to form in his blood and the patient becomes healthy. In this case, the plasma is pre-collected so that it can be made available at the same time when the patients of COVID-19 need plasma. This is the goal of the introduction of plasma banks. The Maharashtra government has announced treatment for plasma therapy on a large scale. However, Maharashtra is not as interested in creating a plasma bank as the Delhi government is taking. Preparations are underway to build a third plasma bank in Delhi at Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital in Delhi.
- Is it easy for anyone to take plasma
The country currently lacks a plasma bank. Overall, Plasma Bank has been launched in Delhi and two in Maharashtra. According to statistics, only one out of three healthy COVID-19 patients want to give their plasma. Accordingly, an average of 20 people is coming forward to donate their plasma daily in Delhi. Usually, who is given plasma therapy, it is decided by the hospital doctors and plasma can be taken from any plasma bank only on the recommendation of the doctor.
- LNJP already have Plasmapheresis machine
A Plasmapheresis machine was already available at Loknayak Jayaprakash Hospital, which separates the components contained in the blood. Plasma is separated from blood by this technique. The hospital says that from this week, the plasma will be collected from the body of a healthy person corrected by COVID-19. So far, 3600 COVID-19 patients have returned home from LNJP Hospital. The hospital believes that many of these are eligible to donate plasma. Dr. Suresh Kumar of LNJP Hospital said that the plasmapheresis machine has already been installed in the hospital and the collection of plasmas will be started from the healthy people corrected from COVID-19 from next Monday. After this, it will take the form of a plasma bank.
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