Malappuram: 32 people who recovered from COVID-19 have donated their plasma and 250 others are ready to donate at Kerala’s Malappuram district.
According to Dr Shinaz Babu, nodal officer for COVID-19 at the Manjeri Medical College, they have 25 plasma already in their bank and 250 others have expressed their willingness to donate.
Recently around 22 recovered patients turned up at the medical college to donate their plasma, while another 10 persons had earlier donated their plasma.
The News Minute quoted Dr Shinaz as saying “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.”
According to the officials Malappuram probably has the highest number of plasma donors. Notably Malappuram is a Muslim dominated district. Of the five plasma treatments done by the medical college hospital, two were not so successful, as patients did not react to the therapy. But others were successful.
Accepting plasma from Mohammed Basheer and Shahul Hameed, Ajit Kumar, an officer of Delhi Police, recently recovered from COVID-19. Both the donors had earlier recovered from the disease and donated plasma.
In plasma therapy the antibodies are separated from a person cured of the novel coronavirus and are infused into the vein of the COVID-19 patient who is in a critical condition.