COVID-19 treatment: Delhi nurses go beyond the call of duty; donate plasma to COVID-19 patients

To be sure, under the convalescent plasma therapy, plasma is separated from the blood of a person who has recovered from COVID-19 and is given to an infected patient.

Coronavirus in Delhi: Nurses in the national capital are not just helping COVID-19 infected patients in hospital wards but are also donating their plasma. There are several reports coming in of nurses donating plasma. These nurses have fully recovered from Coronaavirus after getting infected while taking care of patients in the wards; now they are going beyond the call of duty and are donating their plasma so that other infected patients can be treated.

Citing Bhanu Sharma, a nursing officer at Lok Nayak Hospital in Delhi, a report by The Indian Express revealed that Sharma donated blood plasma for the treatment of a patient who has a two-year-old daughter.

Similarly, other nurses at the hospital having COVID-19 antibodies are ready to donate plasma for Coronavirus treatment. The report said that nurses fit to donate plasma have been donating at a camp organised by the Nurses’ Union at the Lok Nayak hospital for the last three days. As many as 90 nurses of the hospital had tested positive and those fit in the donation criteria are doing their part, the report highlighted.

Apart from Lok Nayak Hospital, nurses at Safdarjung Hospital and AIIMS are donating Coronavirus antibodies too. To be sure, under the convalescent plasma therapy, plasma is separated from the blood of a person who has recovered from COVID-19 and is given to an infected patient. When this plasma is introduced in the body of a person fighting the Coronavirus, the patient’s body will form similar antibodies to combat Coronavirus.

It is to note that Delhi became the first state to start trials for plasma therapy among Coronavirus patients. After some encouraging results, the central government gave a nod for plasma therapy for patients in critical conditions. In order to collect plasma from patients who have recovered from the deadly virus, the Delhi government last month set up a bank for plasma donation at the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS). Meanwhile, plasma therapy has begun in many states, including Odisha, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.