Demand for plasma deliveries increased sharply in corona treatment

When the mother-in-law of Sumit Singh (Badla name), a management professional based in Gurugram, suffering from Covid-19, started having trouble breathing, she sent an SOS to social media to find a plasma donor. It took them two days to find an eligible donor to take two units of plasma. He got one unit from Delhi Plasma Bank and one unit from Pitampura Blood Bank. The first donor asked to donate plasma only in return, while the second took Rs 18,000 for one unit of plasma.

Singh said, "Plasma therapy can begin only when your test reports come back positive. But my mother-in-law's report came twice negative. After that we got the test done in another lab. Many people are afraid of giving plasma. Luckily for my mother-in-law, this therapy worked and has now come out of the ICU. '

Singh had the good fortune that his neighbor's friend came forward to help him. Ever since plasma therapy became an off-label treatment, blood plasma demand has increased manifold compared to its current supply. Dr. Meenu Vajpayee, a transfusion medicine specialist at the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences, said, "The phone rings are not going off." We are constantly getting calls for plasma. We are trying our best to meet the demand and provide plasma instead of plasma. ' It is noteworthy that Delhi's first plasma bank has started in the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences. Celebrities ranging from Hollywood actor Tom Hanks to Delhi minister Atishi Marlina have also donated plasma after recovering from Covid-19. The aim is to set an example to come forward to donate plasma to thousands of people who have overcome Covid.

"The biggest difficulty is finding the right donor for the patient and maintaining a donor bank," said Dr. Sandeep Dewan, director of the Fortis Memorial Research Institute and head of the Department of Critical Care Medicine. Diwan said that all the hospitals, including his hospital, are keeping the details of all those Covid patients whom they have treated so that they can be contacted if needed. He said, "We are keeping the details of the names, addresses, and blood groups of the Covid patients we are treating." Max Hospital had enrolled 50 patients under plasma therapy trials. It treated about 200 patients after the treatment became off-label. These patients were out of the scope of the study. However, this hospital does not have a plasma bank. It maintains some units for its patients in emergencies.

Dr. Sandeep Budhiraja, Group Health Director at Max Healthcare, said, "We should be vigilant about this because anytime a patient may need plasma therapy and his family needs to be informed about it a day or two before. This will help in providing plasma on time. ' Budhiraja said that the situation has improved after the introduction of Plasma Bank in Delhi. He said, "In addition to tipping them about the need for plasma, we should also provide doctors who can provide better treatment."

Some doctors in Kerala are using a WhatsApp group of coronavirus patients. The group was formed to appeal to people to give plasma at the time of the case. A person can give plasma one month after coming out of Covid-19 infection.

In women, only those who have not given birth can give plasma. Health experts say that antibodies are found in the blood plasma of women who have given birth to children, which can cause serious lung damage when plasma is delivered. Doctors say that it is now easier to reach people who give plasma. During the last few weeks, the number of people offering plasma at Plasma Bank in Delhi has doubled to more than 50. Although it is easy to take plasma from a person's body, doctors say that it takes a lot of time to fill the plasma donor, different forms.

In the process of taking plasma, blood is collected by an instrument called a cell separator. Dr. Harpreet Kaur, who is responsible for blood bank at Akash Healthcare, says, "The separator starts separating the various elements from the blood. In these, the plasma collects in a separate bag and the rest of the blood goes back to the donor's body. '

It costs around 10,000–11,000 to store plasma. The standard dose of plasma therapy is 200 ml. On collecting 410 ml of blood, two 200 ml bags are filled with plasma. However, plasma therapy is not new, nor is it an established standard of treatment.

Dr. HA Chhabra, Director of Health, Indian Spinal Injuries Center, said, 'The body makes antibodies with white blood particles to fight off an infection. A person who has ever been infected with Covid-19 may also have antibodies and white blood particles in the blood plasma. If this plasma is offered to another infected person, the antibodies found in it can help fight infection.