Team Herald
PANJIM: With COVID-19 cases increasing in the State, the Goa government is all set to launch plasma therapy for treating the people affected with the virus. The State will have 4,000 capacity plasma bank.
Goa, which was the first State to be declared Corona Free in mid April, today has over 1600 confirmed cases and more than 800 active patients. State has also reported five deaths, within a span of 15 days.
Addressing media persons, Health Minister Vishwajit Rane said, “Considering the rise in COVID cases in the State and after having detail discussion with doctors, we have decided to introduce plasma therapy in the State. Plasma will be collected from recovered COVID patients and will be used for treatment of critical patients”.
The minister said patients between 18 to 60 years can donate their plasma to COVID patients. “We will motivate people to donate plasma, which can be used scientifically. Those who have good antibody concentration will be asked to donate plasma,” he said adding that ‘currently, there are few critical patients in COVID hospital’.
Rane said the Kerala government has saved lives of eight patients who were critical due to the infection.
“In our efforts to reduce COVID-19 casualties, we are working persistently to ensure we leave no stone unturned in fighting the menace,” he said.
He said initially, the aim is to store 1000 packets of plasma for which we will be procuring two Blood Plasma Freezers.
“Subsequently, the capacity will be increased to 4,000. The life span of plasma is one year,” he explained.
Rane said the Goa Medical College and Hospital, already has facility to have plasma bank.
The minister said an Institutional Expert Committee will be formed to look into the technicality of the procedure and keep track of records from COVID hospital.
Stating that all the protocols will be followed, Rane said that the decision would be communicated to Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
He said the State government does not require any more permission to collect plasma from COVID recovered patient.
The therapy requires drawing blood from patients who have recovered from COVID-19 and using the plasma and antibodies from that blood in active patients. Unlike blood donation, only the plasma is drawn from the blood.
