Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday inaugurated the first Plasma Bank in the country via Video Conferencing. The CM requested the Covid-19 recovered patients to come forward and donate plasma. The plasma therapy is a possible cure for Covid-19.
“Today I am announcing the plasma bank in Delhi. Plasma bank will solve the problems of Covid-19 patients”, Kejriwal said addressing the virtual press conference.
Kejriwal informed that any patient who has recovered from Covid-19 whose age is between 18 & 60 with a weight above 50 are eligible for donating plasma. Women who have recently given birth and people with comorbidities will not be allowed for this procedure, added the CM.
Kejiriwal also launched two helpline numbers, one for calling 1031 and another 8800007722 for Whatsapp. People who are willing to donate plasma can register themselves in these numbers.
Talking about the effectiveness of Plasma therapy, Maharashtra Health Minster Rajesh Tope said that 9 out of 10 patients are getting better through this treatment. Total 93,000 patients have recovered till now.
A mobile application to track plasma donors was also launched on Wednesday in Delhi on the occasion of National Doctors Day.
The app, COPAL-19 was developed by resident doctors of AIIMS with the assistance of IIT-Delhi Students. It enables to track discharged patients of AIIMS who have the potential to become plasma donors 28 days after they are recovered. The app contains the data of all the patients, both discharged and the ones undergoing treatment at AIIMS along with their blood groups.
The app is currently available primarily for AIIMS patients. And the app will soon be available to everyone.
Read more about plasma therapy in this write-up in Discover East.
(Feature image source: statsnews)
