Covid-19 treatment: Haryana gets its first Plasma Bank at Faridabad’s ESIC hospital

The setting up of a full fledged plasma bank was only conceptualised after the sudden increase in the number of Coronavirus cases in the state in June and July, the officials added.

Following the example of neighbouring Delhi opening the first plasma bank, the state of Haryana is all set to open a plasma bank in view of the rising number of Coronavirus cases across the country. The facility will be opened at the state’s Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) hospital in Faridabad, according to an Indian Express report. The officials working at the facility said that all the requisite permissions have been taken and accompanying infrastructure to start the functioning of the bank has also been procured.

The ESIC hospital was the first hospital in the state which took part in the plasma trials in the month of May, the officials said. The setting up of a full fledged plasma bank was only conceptualised after the sudden increase in the number of Coronavirus cases in the state in June and July, the officials added.

There was considerable improvement in the condition of aged patients who were earlier not responding to the conventional treatment, Dr AK Pandey, Registrar (Academic) told IE. A large number of recovered patients were also making repeated queries to donate their plasma, he added.

The hospital is already catering to the demands of extremely critical patients but after the opening of the plasma bank, we will not only provide plasma to a large number of patients in our hospital but also to a large number of hospitals in the city, he further said.

According to the officials, the plan is to have a bank with a capacity of 300 plasma bags with a minimum of 100 bags put in reserve at any point in time. The manpower for the bank will be diverted from the departments which are not functioning at the moment including the OPD and Emergency staff members.

However, setting up the bank and making it functional is easier than the bigger challenge of encouraging more and more people to donate their plasma. The demand for plasma is so much that the plasma samples we secure are getting used the same day and there is no stock for the bank as of now, Dr Nimisha Sharma, Nodal officer of the Plasma Bank told IE.