Repeat donors help meet plasma requirement in city

Mangaluru: Even as the debate over the effectiveness of plasma therapy continues, the demand for plasma is soaring in the city. While NGOs are aggressively trying to reach out to fresh donors, there is a rise in the number of repeat donors.
Nawaz Ullal, 31, manager, Blood Help Care Karnataka, donated plasma for the fourth time on Wednesday. “I receive several calls from relatives of Covid patients asking if I am willing to donate. Some families are in distress, and are willing to pay for the donation. The awareness among people about plasma donation is low. The feeling of helping another human being cannot be expressed in words,” he said.
Shahid Aboobakkar, 23, a businessman, has already donated plasma four times, and he would not mind donating plasma for a fifth time.
Zakaria Farvez from Mercy Helpline, who is working actively for the last three months with several like-minded blood donors associations and K S Hegde hospital’s blood bank for mobilising plasma donors, said, “In our district, more than 150 donors have donated plasma. The challenge is to convince new donors. When we requested Shahid and Nawaz for the fourth time, they readily agreed, but we were not sure if that was possible. We consulted doctors from the HCG Plasma Bank, Bengaluru, who told us that if antibodies are present, they can donate. Both the donors are from Ullal. MLA U T Khader is also promoting plasma donation in his constituency. Nawaz Ullal plans to launch a campaign with the support of the MLA to mobilise plasma donors.”
Plasma therapy uses antibodies from the blood of a recovered Covid-19 patient to treat patients who are critically infected by the virus. Dr Chandrika Rao, associate professor, pathology and blood bank in-charge Nitte (deemed to be university), Justice K S Hegde Charitable Hospital (blood bank), observed that there is a rise in the number of repeat donors. In the last two months, the unit has issued around 290 units of plasma, she said.
Dr Adithya V Bharadwaj, consultant intensivist and physician, Indiana Hospital, said that for treating Covid-19 there are various options, but none of them is foolproof. “Convalescent plasma therapy is one of the treatment options that is supposed to work, and is used as a rescue treatment. People who have recovered from Covid-19 must come forward to donate plasma, as it’s not harmful in any way. As the debate continues on the benefit of plasma therapy, it should be noted that it is not required for every Covid patient. Among patients who are critical and are not responding to the conventional therapy, plasma therapy can be an alternative, and we are definitely facing a shortage for select blood groups,” he added.