After SCB hosp, Ganjam launches plasma therapy

Berhampur: Plasma therapy will soon be used in Ganjam district, even as the number of Covid infections in the district rose to 5,991 on Tuesday.
A number of units of plasma, collected at SCB Medical College in Cuttack, were brought to the district on Tuesday. Initially, four persons will be administered plasma, said a doctor attached to the Covid hospital at Sitalapalli.
“The doctors will administer plasma to patients depending on their condition,” said collector Vijay Amruta Kulange, who launched the treatment on Tuesday.“Plasma therapy has shown good results in other places. We hope this treatment will bring relief to patients here,” the collector said.
Plasma has to be brought from Cuttack as the MKCG Medical College here lacks a plasma bank. “There is a need to establish a plasma bank at MKCG Medical College here,” said Sunil Kotta, a private practitioner.
Earlier, the superintendent of MKCG, S K Mishra, had written to the state government for an apheresis machine, which separates plasma from blood, at the hospital blood bank. “We think a plasma bank will come up soon here as the government is giving a lot of importance to Covid control in Ganjam,” said the collector.
The district administration is also making a registry of people eligible and willing to donate plasma. “As many as 34 people have come forward to donate plasma in the district. All 22 BDOs have been asked to find at least 10 donors each,” the collector said.