Nellore crosses 750 mark in plasma donations

Nellore: Plasma donations in the district have crossed the 750 mark which is the highest in the entire state. The Delhi government has launched the country's first plasma bank at the ILBS Hospital a couple of months ago, the district administration has already planned a separate wing on the similar lines for promoting plasma donations and has been motivating the recovered patients on the activity.

In Gujarat, Surat city has already crossed the 1,000-mark in plasma donations and the district is heading towards breaking the record with a huge number of donations. IRCS-Nellore branch is playing an active role in collecting plasma from the recovered Covid patients while they are discharged from the hospitals/care centres. So far, according to the district collector KVN Chakradhar Babu, over 370 Covid patients recovered till now in the district using the plasma therapy.

According to medical experts, the Convalescent Plasma therapy uses blood from people who have recovered from any infection to help others recover and the same strategy is being applied in coronavirus cases for boosting immunity among patients with critical ailments. Blood contains antibodies to the virus which helps to boost their ability to fight the virus thus the therapy reduces the mortality rate.

IRCS-Nellore branch is collecting plasma from the recovered patients. The district administration is creating awareness among the patients who have recovered from the infection for donating their plasma and are being provided an incentive of Rs 5,000 as announced by the state government. The plasma donation process started on August 5 and it reached 750 within two months giving encouragement to the entire medical team.

Collector Chakradhar Babu tweeted that the district had crossed the 750-mark and around 370 people recovered from the critical condition utilising plasma therapy. He appreciated the efforts of the medical and health teams who are treating coronavirus patients and also the IRCS staff members for the good results.

Interestingly, there is no mention of the plasma donations in the state on the Covid-19 dashboard of Andhra Pradesh even though administrations are displaying good results in the activity.