Maharashtra: Plasma trial faltering as fear a factor with donors

MUMBAI: The state’s muchtouted Project Platina, designed to trial convalescent plasma therapy as well as treat severe Covid-19 patients, has been hindered by a lack of donors. The chief minister had on June 30 launched the project and appealed to recovered patients to donate plasma, but the response has been lacklustre. The state has over 1.6 lakh recovered Covid-19 patients, of whom at least 20% could fulfil the criteria to become donors.

In the Platina trial designed by the medical education department, 21 medical institutes will study the efficacy of convalescent plasma to treat critical patients. Besides the trial, the state is also trying to make the blood component available for emergency use in serious patients as its off-label use was allowed by the health ministry on June 13. The lack of donors, though, has meant that few in need are getting the plasma for off-label use. The trial too needs many more donors.
Dr Mohammed Faisal, state coordinator for Project Platina, said that they have managed to collect only 150 bags of plasma from a database of 7,000 recovered patients. “All institutes are making efforts to reach more patients, but the enthusiasm to donate is lacking,” he said.
“There are concerns around travel and lost wages. Fear is also deterring people. We are working around those,” he said. “While the trial is still going through last-minute paper work and has time to collect more plasma, we would be comfortable when each centre has at least 100 units each.”
The teams calling potential donors have found that loss of wages was the primary reason for reluctance among donors in rural areas, whereas urban patients, surprisingly, seemed to be deterred by myths and unfounded fears. Many showed reluctance to visit a public hospital to donate, while several others said they didn't want to come twice to donate. Dr Faisal said those donating for the trial will get travel and food expenses and wages for the day. “We are also trying to streamline tests so that they don't have to visit the hospital twice to donate,” he said.
In Mumbai, Nair, Sion, KEM and Bal Thackeray Trauma hospital are the trial sites. Nair, which recently completed the first plasma trial with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), said they were gearing up for Platina.
TIMES VIEW: The importance of recovered patients donating blood can be best conveyed through public service messaging. And to get the message across to potential donors, the administration needs to tap social influencers. There is still a miasma of ignorance and misconception around Covid-19, which can be dispelled through targeted communication.