Odisha government to set up plasma bank in Cuttack for COVID-19 treatment

Plasma from the recovered patients will be collected at the premier hospital and will be issued to different users hospitals for storage and use.
A youth donates plasma for Covid treatment at the plasma bank established at the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences. (Photo| Shekhar Yadav, EPS)
A youth donates plasma for Covid treatment at the plasma bank established at the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences. (Photo| Shekhar Yadav, EPS)

BHUBANESWAR: The State Government on Thursday announced to set up a plasma bank at SCB Medical College and Hospital, Cuttack, while including convalescent plasma therapy (CPT) in the treatment protocol for moderate to serious COVID-19 patients.

The plasma bank will be set up in the Department of Transfusion Medicine of SCB MCH and function in a hub and spoke model. Plasma from the recovered patients will be collected at the premier hospital and will be issued to different users hospitals for storage and use.

The Government also gave its go ahead for starting plasma therapy at SCB MCH along with three Covid hospitals - Ashwini, SUM and KIMS soon. The therapy using convalescent plasma will be considered with the consent of the recipient for the patients, who are not improving and oxygen requirement is progressively increasing despite use of steroids.

While it has been decided to set up a plasma bank and maintain a centralised registry of patients recovered from novel coronavirus, the CPT will be administered as ‘off label’ therapy in COVID-19 patients with the approval of treating doctor, ethical committee and technical committee.

Additional Chief Secretary of Health and Family Welfare department PK Mohapatra said that the therapy will start once the protocol and strategies are ready. "The three COVID hospitals in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack will be encouraged to create their own plasma collection units adhering to the prevailing rules and regulations," he said.

A technical committee led by Director of Medical Education and Training has been constituted for preparation of a detailed protocol for CPT. The centralised registry will be maintained by the Superintendent of SCB MCH with personal details of cured COVID-19 patients with consent to donate plasma.

The modality of the maintenance of central registry will be finalised by the technical committee. "The database with name, address, contact number and blood group of all the willing recovered Covid patients to donate plasma will be maintained by all Covid Hospitals across the State," Mohapatra added.

Associate Professor (Transfusion Medicine) department of SCB MCH Dr Smita Mahapatra has been designated as nodal officer for CPT.

The decision for the therapy was taken at a high level meeting chaired by Health Minister Naba Kishore Das. Of the 27 fatalities reported in the State so far, 20 persons, including two women, aged below 50 years have succumbed to the highly infectious disease in the last one month.

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