As the whole world is anxiously waiting for a possible treatment that will put an hold on the deaths and devastation caused by the COVID19 for past 6 months. Now a ray of hope for patients in Bengal struggling to fight the virus, as for the first time a Plasma Bank is soon going to be operational in Medica Superspeciality Hospital in Kolkata.
A plasma bank, just functions like a blood bank, and has been created specifically for patients suffering from COVID-19 and have been advised the therapy by doctors. People who have fully recovered from COVID-19 have antibodies in their plasma and that can attack the virus. These antibodies provided one way for your immune system to fight the virus when you were sick, so your plasma may be able to be used to help others fight off the disease.
Dr Alok Roy, Chairman of Medica Superspeciality Hospital speaking to News Sense said, “Cure is the only answer for Corona now. Plasma will help in fight Corona and therefore we want to ensure that nobody should his or her fight to COVID. So, we are moving forward and starting Plasma Convalescent Therapy for moderate to severe patients for early and smooth recovery. We have got permission to start to setup Plasma Bank from the Government and it is going to be operational soon“.
This convalescent plasma is being evaluated as treatment for patients with serious or immediately life-threatening COVID-19 infections, or those judged by a healthcare provider to be at high risk of progression to severe or life-threatening disease.
Convalescent plasma is the liquid part of blood that is collected from patients who have recovered from the novel coronavirus disease, COVID-19, caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2. COVID-19 patients develop antibodies in the blood against the virus. Antibodies are proteins that might help fight the infection. Convalescent plasma is being investigated for the treatment of COVID-19 because there is no approved treatment for this disease and there is some information that suggests it might help some patients recover from COVID-19.
It is also important here to note, that Medica has many patients with COVID-19/SARS CoV-2, who have been successfully treated on ECMO and have gone back to their usual life, healthy. Moreover, amidst the pandemic, MEDICA Super specialty Hospital has increased the numbers of beds for treatment of COVID-19 patients to 112, also adding another 38 beds to treat suspected patients. The hospital has also reduced the cost of COVID testing further to INR 2,250/-, PPE kits to INR 1,000/- and doctors’ consultation at INR 1,000/- per day.
