Odisha to start plasma therapy on Covid-19 patients

BHUBANESWAR: A decision to start plasma therapy for the treatment of Covid-19 patients was taken in a meeting chaired by health minister Naba Kishore Das on Thursday.
Das said the therapy will be started in four hospitals — the SCB Medical College and Hospital and Aswini Hospital in Cuttack besides KIMS and SUM Hospital in Bhubaneswar. The representatives of these hospitals and senior health department officers were present in the meeting.
“A technical committee having representatives from the four hospitals will decide the treatment protocol and issue necessary guidelines regarding the plasma therapy,” the health minister said.He added that just like all the other ongoing treatments and diagnostics for the viral disease, the plasma therapy will also be entirely free of cost for the patients.
Additional chief secretary (health) Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra said these four hospitals will counsel the cured patients because they would be the potential blood donors for the new treatment procedure. “The hospitals have a database of the discharged patients. They will reach out to them to find out the potential voluntary donors,” he added.
So far, more than 5500 patients have recovered from Covid. They would make a good pool of plasma donors.