Deaths down in Bhandara since massive plasma donation camp

Nagpur: There is a difference of opinion among experts about the effectiveness of convalescent plasma therapy in Covid-19. The figures in Bhandara district show that the plasma therapy has worked for them.
Bhandara, which had reported 30 deaths in first 20 days of December, has reported only 5 deaths in last ten days — between December 22 and 31. Before this, the district had organized a massive plasma donation drive between December 15 and 18 and raised 100-plus bags of plasma through voluntary donation by Covid recovered donors.
Authorities in Bhandara told TOI that they are providing plasma for free to the needy and eligible patients admitted in Bhandara from December 22 onwards.
“Emergency use of plasma is permitted and it can be a life saver. We can’t directly claim that the death rate has reduced due to plasma therapy. For that, we will need a proper study. But as far as the ground reality goes, the case fatality rate has reduced from 2.8% between December 1 and 20 to 1.4% between December 21 and 31,” said district collector of Bhandara Sandeep Kadam.
Bhandara district doesn’t have its own plasma extraction facility. It was earlier dependent on GMCH Nagpur for convalescent plasma. Due to the long process to get plasma allotted from Nagpur, it was difficult for the administration to get plasma on time. Hence, they decided to conduct their own plasma donation camp. In mid-December, teams from Nagpur’s Lifeline Blood bank provided technical and manpower support for free and collected more than 100 bags of plasma from donors. Medical director of this blood bank Dr Harish Warbhe said that meticulous selection process and collection of RBD plasma could be the major reason behind good figures shown in Bhandara.
“We have collected plasma from recovered persons with high RBD-antibody levels only,” he said. Dr Warbhe added that RBD plasma is in high demand worldwide despite the difference of opinion in medical fraternity.
Till December 31, Bhandara district has 12,355 cases and 11,708 of them have recovered.