Gurgaon set to get plasma bank within a week

Gurgaon: In a major boost to its fight against Covid-19, Gurgaon is likely to get a plasma bank within a week on the lines of the one in Delhi. The city will be the first in Haryana to open such a facility.
With the therapy, recovered patients can donate their plasma to those infected. It can be used not only in serious cases, but also to immunise those who are at a higher risk of contracting the virus.
“We have all the parameters in place and will soon start the plasma bank,” Gurgaon chief medical officer Virender Yadav said at a press conference on Friday.
Health officials are yet to disclose the details of the plasma bank’s location and the procedure to apply.
On July 2, Delhi became the first city in the country to open a plasma bank, which was followed by another on July 14. Punjab and Tamil Nadu have followed suit.
In plasma therapy, plasma with antibodies obtained from the blood of recovered patients is transfused to Covid-19 patients. Upon transfusion, the antibodies bind to specific antigens, recognised by the body as alien, and destroy them. The therapy has been tried in the past to treat Ebola, SARS and MERS.
According to the protocols, a recovered patient can donate plasma two weeks after recovery. Patients above the age of 55; those who have a history of other diseases such as diabetics, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C and HIV; and pregnant women and those who have given birth will not be included in this process.
Gurgaon has so far recorded 8,266 Covid cases, out of which 7,110 people have recovered. Yadav said that although Gurgaon at present has a doubling rate of 48.5 days, the city cannot let its guard down, and social distancing, sanitisation and hygiene rules must be followed strictly. He added that 57 complaints have been sent to Gurgaon Police against individuals who have violated norms. Out of them, 20 FIRs have been registered.
Nikita Gehlot, deputy commissioner of police (headquarters), said 13,000 challans have been issued to people for not wearing face masks and Rs 64 lakh has been collected. “We have counselled 4,759 people and directed them to download Aarogya Setu app.”
The CMO said that to improve contact tracing, private labs had been asked to collect the patients’ permanent as well as temporary address. “We need a current address for locating the patient and also a permanent address to ensure that the patient did not travel to his or her hometown,” Yadav said.