Plasma at Rs 8,500 per unit in Gurugram’s first bank

Sanjay Yadav

Gurugram, July 30

In a major boost to the Covid treatment infrastructure, Gurugram started its own plasma bank on Thursday with the capacity of 1,000 units.

As per the plan, plasma will be provided at Rs 8,500 per unit to patients while it will be free for BPL card-holders and pregnant women. The bank was inaugurated on Thursday at Rotary blood bank, Sector 10, by Divisional Commissioner Ashok Sangwan.

“Gurugram has been the best in tracing and testing in the NCR and with the plasma bank, we will further streamline the treatment,” Sangwan said.

Necessary arrangements for the Covid antibody test and the extraction of plasma have been made at the blood bank.

Notably, like many parts of the NCR, Gurugram faced the major problem of plasma sale in the black market, where patients in need have reportedly paid as high as Rs 50,000 per unit. With the opening of the bank, the racket and agents will be neutralised and Covid patients can procure convalescent plasma units for the therapy at Rs 8,500 per unit.

The bank will be open for blood donation from 9 am to 9 pm, while the plasma will be available 24×7.

The plasma unit will be issued on a signed request of the authorised nodal officer of the hospital, where the patient is undergoing treatment and the medical superintendent of the district Health Department. Plasma units can be availed by patients admitted in both government and private hospitals.

The administration has contacted 4,000 recovered patients and so far, over 60 have confirmed donation. “We have started the plasma bank on Thursday and people who want to donate can contact the Health Department,” said Chief Medical Officer Dr Virender Yadav.

Karnal hospital gets nod for blood bank

Karnal: The local Kalpana Chawla Government Medical College (KCGMC) has got the nod to set up a plasma bank for Covid patients, which will be functional in a few days. This was confirmed by Dr Jagdish Dureja, KCGMC director. After establishing the bank, plasma therapy will be given to the Covid patients. He said around 200-250 ml of plasma would be collected from the recovered patients, aged between 18 and 50, weighing more than 55 kg and tested negative for the virus twice. TNS