Balasore: Even as the second wave of Covid-19 is sweeping across the state, doctors increasingly pin their faith on plasma therapy for the treatment of Covid-19 positive cases at the district headquarters hospital in Balasore, a report said.
Notably, a plasma bank was inaugurated at the DHH August 18, 2020. Scores of Covid-19 patients from various parts of Balasore, Bhadrak and Mayurbhanj are benefitting from the plasma therapy. Earlier, Covid patients from north Odisha used to go to SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack to avail of plasma therapy.
Now, the plasma bank has 69 units of plasma in stock. The critically ill Covid patients are immediately provided with plasma therapy.
Doctors say, as immunity in some Covid patients gets low, their condition worsens. In the second wave of the Covid-19, patients have poor immunity, leading to an increase in the number of fatalities.
If the plasma therapy is put to use in time, critical Covid patients have good chances of quick recovery, they added.
Plasma therapy has proved beneficial for people affected by Swine Flu and Ebola. They added that even during the first wave of the Covid-19, patients have been treated successfully in the state. Experts say, about 80 per cent of the Covid-19 patients recover due to plasma therapy.
Chief district medical officer Dr Dulalsen Jagdev asserted that the district plasma bank received 59 units of plasma in 2020 and 28 Covid-19 patients were successfully treated then.
In the current year, 38 plasma units were donated to the plasma bank while the bank is capable of preserving 200 units in -40 degree freezer, he added.
He further added that as Covid-19 infections are rapidly spreading in the district, adequate stock of plasma units will be ensured for patients in coming days.
PNN
