First blood: Donors drop in at plasma bank in Delhi

NEW DELHI: He had always wanted to donate blood, but 19-year-old Vijay Jeet Sharma had never imagined that actually doing this good deed would give him so much peace and satisfaction. The youth was one of the 20-odd Covid-19 survivors who donated blood at the newly opened plasma bank at Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS).
“My parents were very encouraging. They motivated me to donate plasma saying I should set an example.I felt really happy that my blood will save someone’s life,” Sharma said. He had to wait a few hours at the hospital to make the donation on Thursday as the staff were busy with the inauguration of the plasma bank.
Sharma added, “A cab came to pick me and my father and it dropped us home in the evening. I was also given a Gaurav Patra (certificate of appreciation) signed by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.”
An employee of Container Corporation of India, Bharat Bansal was also contacted by the hospital for plasma donation. He and some of his colleagues had tested positive for Covid-19 in May. “I had decided on donating on the weekend as I didn’t want my office work to suffer. But I had to reschedule for Friday. The feeling that I got after donating plasma was inexplicable,” he added.
Bansal had heard about the importance of convalescent plasma therapy in treating Covid-19 patients with moderate symptoms through the media and decided to donate it.
With the system still developing, sources said the pace was slow as only 10 people donated plasma on Thursday and almost an equal number on Friday. Rajender Nagar MLA Raghav Chadha, who is working on the project at the hospital on behalf of the government, said about 130 callers had been contacting Covid-19 survivors to convince them to donate plasma. He added that over 60 people had confirmed the donation in the next couple of days and logistics had been arranged for them.
“While some people were willing to donate, a large number of them had multiple doubts. Our team of callers comprising doctors and medical students cleared their confusion and told them that their noble act would help save lives,” Chadha said.
Covid-19 patients aged 18-60 who have tested negative for at least 14 days and have had no symptoms since then can donate plasma. However, the donor should not be suffering from diabetes, hypertension or any other chronic disease of heart, lungs, kidney or liver. Women who have been pregnant even once can’t donate plasma. Chadha said ILBS currently had eight plasmapheresis and the number was likely to be increased in the next few days.
Dr Girish Khurana, posted as a junior resident at Aruna Asaf Ali Hospital, said if donating increased chances of survival even by 30-40%, there was no harm in doing that. “That’s why I decided to donate plasma as soon as I was eligible for it on Friday,” he added.
Head constable Mahesh Kumar, posted at the control room of DCP (West) office, said he regularly donated blood. When the opportunity to donate plasma came his way, he was more than willing. However, he didn’t tell his family about it. “If we can save lives, we should definitely do that. I have donated blood before and this was no different,” he added.
However, Samarth Bansal, who was looking for plasma for his grandmother, said the system was yet to be streamlined. “We went to ILBS on Friday to submit three forms required to get a unit. But we were told that another form the treating hospital was supposed to send was not there. We returned empty handed, but we’ll try again on Saturday,” he added.