At a time there are reports from many parts of the country over a delay in starting plasma therapy for critical coronavirus patients, Kerala's Malappuram district is way ahead — till date, 32 people who recovered from COVID-19 have donated their plasma at the Manjeri Medical college hospital.
Dr Shinaz Babu, nodal officer for COVID-19 at the Manjeri Medical College, told TNM that they have 25 plasma already in their bank and 250 others have expressed their willingness to donate.
A few days ago, around 22 recovered patients turned up at the medical college to donate their plasma. Before that, another 10 persons had also donated their plasma.
"We have three WhatsApp groups of patients who get admitted here at the hospital. They will be in the group even after their discharge, as they can motivate others. There are about 750 members in total. As soon as they are admitted, we would collect their contact details and add them to the groups. It is through these groups we inform them about the need for plasma. To our surprise, many of them came forward wholeheartedly," the officer said.
Malappuram probably has the highest number of plasma donors, officials say. The medical college hospital has done five plasma treatments. Two among them were not so successful, as patients did not react to the therapy. But others were successful.
Recently, Ajit Kumar, an officer of Delhi Police, recovered after accepting plasma from Mohammed Basheer and Shahul Hameed, who had earlier recovered from the disease and donated plasma.
In June, doctors used plasma therapy to save the life of a COVID-19 patient at the Government Medical College (GMC) in Thrissur. In Kannur Medical College too, they have used plasma treatment in June. It was in April second week that Kerala had started clinical trials for plasma treatment.
Plasma therapy involves the separation of antibodies from a person cured of the novel coronavirus and its subsequent infusion into the vein of the COVID-19 patient who is in a critical condition. The plasma can be collected from those people who have recovered from COVID-19, are in the age group of 18 to 50, and have no comorbidities.