Cops start plasma donation drive

BHUBANESWAR: As cases rise exponentially, Odisha Police have decided to start a fresh plasma donation drive and have requested its Covid-cured personnel to come to the rescue of critical patients.
Additional director general of police (law and order) Jeshwant Jethwa on Friday wrote to the heads of all police establishments in the state and assigned assistant inspector general (headquarters) Pratyush Diwakar as the nodal officer to coordinate with plasma donors in the force.
“The state health department has requested members of Odisha Police to once again lead the plasma donation drive like last year. Those who have recovered in the first and second phase of the infection, are encouraged to donate plasma and help the government to fight Covid-19,” Jethwa wrote.
In the first phase, altogether 1002 police personnel, who had recovered from Covid-19, had donated plasma. They (police personnel) constituted around 50% of the state’s total plasma donors. Altogether 8,902 police personnel were infected by Covid-19 in the first wave and 48 of them had succumbed to the virus.
According to government guidelines, plasma donors should be aged between 18 and 60 years. Their weight should be around 55 kg and they should have recovered at least 28 days prior to the donation of their plasma. The donors would also undergo RT-PCR test before donating plasma.
It must be noted that demand for plasma has gone up amid the rapid surge in Covid positive cases in the past few days. “We are flooded with requests for plasma. Please come forward to donate and save the lives of fellow countrymen,” tweeted senior IPS officer Arun Bothra, who along with some volunteers created India Cares (@indiacares_2020).