Govt plans to set up plasma units at 20 blood banks to facilitate therapy

Kolkata: The state government plans to set up plasma units in 20 blood banks across the state, given the increasing need for convalescent plasma for the treatment of Covid patients.
So far, Medical College and Hospital (MCH) was the only state-run institute in Bengal to have a plasma unit . “After careful consideration, in a bid to ease the demand for plasma, the Bengal government has decided to set up 20 Convalescent Covid-19 Plasma units in 20 state-run blood banks across the state,” said a senior health department official. To be given free of cost, the banks will cater only to patients admitted to government and government-acquired Covid hospitals, according to the availability at the time of requisition.
In Kolkata, apart from the five teaching medical colleges, Central Blood Bank and ESI Hospital Maniktala will have the plasma units in its blood banks. The rest will be spread over other districts, including North 24 Parganas, Midnapore, Bankura, Hooghly, Nadia, Murshidabad and Burdwan.
Even though clinical trials on the efficacy of plasma therapy for those contracting the novel coronavirus are yet to lead to any conclusive result, ICMR has allowed hospitals to use the treatment “off label”. “Convalescent plasma can be prepared in the state-run blood component separation units by separating whole blood unit from a recovered Covid patient,” said an order from the state health department.
So far, MCH was the only state-run institute with a plasma unit. The plasma collected from the bank is being used in the clinical trial being carried out at Infectious Diseases and Beliaghata General Hospital (IDBG). “So far, we have been able to collect plasma from more than 40 donors,” said Prasun Bhattacharya, head of the immuno-haematology and blood transfusion department at Medical College and Hospital.
While some private hospitals in the city have already started plasma therapy as an off-label management for Covid patients, state-run facilities are yet to initiate the use of plasma in treatment. Only ID Hospital is using it for clinical trial, but MCH may soon take the lead in the therapy. “Selection of patients is an important criterion for the use of convalescent. We are going to form a committee that will select such patients for the ‘off-label’ use of plasma, according to the ICMR guidelines,” said MCH medical superintendent and vice-principal Indranil Biswas.
Blood banks have been asked to identify potential CCP donors from the list of recovered Covid patients. The government recently also launched a section in the health department’s website, where plasma donors can register. Blood banks also have been told to rope in and coordinate with voluntary organizations working in this field, arranging for plasma for Covid patients. “We would love to chip in with all our efforts in this government’s initiative to set up more plasma units,” said Ajay Mittal of Project Life Force. The organization has already started its own campaign to list potential plasma donors.