Bhayandar: More than two months after the plasma centre became functional at Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation’s (MBMC) blood bank in Mira Road, plasma therapy in the twin-city faces roadblocks due to the lack of donors, thus limiting the use of the treatment.
As per official statistics only 93 people who have recovered from Covid-19 have so far come forward to donate their plasma. At the same time around 25 more people who had shown interest in donating plasma, had to be turned away as they did not meet the criteria required for donation.
Till October4, around 16,727 people had recovered from the infection and were discharged from various private and public healthcare facilities in the twin-city. Lack of awareness about this therapy is seen as one of the reasons for recovered patients not coming forward to donate plasma.
Stung by the cold shoulder response the MBMC has finally geared up to take steps towards encouraging plasma donation. “Apart from launching an awareness campaign to mobilise potential plasma donors, we will soon share the data of recovered patients with the blood bank in accordance with privacy policy of not revealing the identity of potential donors,” said deputy civic chief-Sambhaji Waghmare.
“We are flooded with calls from kin of patients seeking plasma. But we are helpless due to shortage. Once we get the data of recovered patients, our trained tele-operators will establish one-to-one contact to educate and counsel them to encourage voluntary plasma donations which is the need of the hour. People can call us on 865 551 0666 or 997 556 4128 for any query or assistance.” said in-charge of MBMC’s blood bank-Vinayak Choudhary. With 5 more fatalities reported on Sunday, the death toll has climbed to 592.
The Convalescent Plasma Therapy involves using the plasma obtained from the blood of cured coronavirus patients to treat those who are critically ill. The pre-requisite for donations include- Covid-19 positive report, discharge card or negative report and donors should have completed at least 28 days of resolution of symptoms.
