Telangana: Donors hesitant as patients scramble for plasma

HYDERABAD: With the active Covid-19 case load in the state increasing at a rapid pace, a large number of patients who have been prescribed convalescent plasma therapy are having to run from pillar to post to be treated. Adding to this problem is a shortage of donors as a result of fears of reinfection while ineligibility to donate after being given the vaccine has further reduced the pool of donors.
There are several donors who have expressed their wish to donate in light of the current situation, but many of them are being discouraged by their families as they might get reinfected and carry the infection back home. “We had only one donor who agreed out of almost a dozen we contacted but he too dropped out at the last moment saying that his family was apprehensive,” said a patient’s relative who is still waiting for a donor.
Another relative of a 25-year-old patient said they had contacted several donor groups and even managed to convince a few donors but even after getting 10 donors they were unable to get a plasma replacement. “The ones who came forward were ineligible for some reason or the other. Finally, we convinced the hospital that we will pay for the replacement,” said the patient’s relative, adding that in six cases, the patients didn’t have antibodies.
Meanwhile, plasma donor groups which are getting several distress calls on a daily basis said that only around 25 to 30 per cent possible donors actually end up as donors owing to age, co-morbidities and other factors. “While it was easier to get donors during the first wave, it has become very difficult to convince donors this time due to high infectivity.
Families are hesitant to send donors to hospitals. Even if they don’t fall sick, they may become a carrier and transmit to others in the family. Due to this, we had to tie up with blood banks to keep the live donor plasma and supply it to patients but most hospitals do not allow this,” said Telangana Plasma Donors’ Association president, Gudur Narayana Reddy.
Vaccinations and delays in second doses has further added to the problem. “Plasma is precious and very difficult to get these day after vaccination. As per the criteria, plasma cannot be taken for four weeks post vaccination. Taking in count the two doses of vaccines, it would mean that a donor is ineligible for at least two months if the vaccine is taken,” said an official from a corporate hospital in the city.