Ten Odisha Fire Services Personnel to Donate Plasma for Treatment of COVID-19 Patients

Bhubaneswar: In response to the Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s appeal for plasma donation for the treatment of COVID-19 patients, the personnel of Odisha Fire Services have volunteered to donate their plasma for a noble cause.

As many as 10 fire personnel, who have recovered from the coronavirus, will donate their plasma in the first phase at SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack.

“We are happy to announce that our firefighters who recovered from Covid-19 have volunteered to donate plasma for treatment of serious covid patients”, said Satyajit Mohanty, DG Fire Services, Odisha.

“Ten of them will donate plasma in the first phase at SCBMCH Cuttack”, he added.

The Odisha Government has started the plasma therapy for the treatment of COVID- 19 patients at the Ashwini Hospital in Cuttack on July 16. The procedure was conducted on a 48-year-old patient at the hospital for the first time in the State,
The convalescent plasma transfusion will also be conducted in the SUM Hospital and the Kalinga Institute of Medical Sciences in Bhubaneswar.

Earlier on Wednesday, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik inaugurated the Odisha’s first Covid Plasma Bank at SCB Medical College, Cuttack and appealed to all eligible Covid survivors to come forward to donate their plasma, which will go a long way in helping the treatment of serious patients.

He also said the plasma therapy would be made available free of cost to the people of the State.

In the plasma therapy, antibodies from blood of patients, who have recovered from coronavirus disease, are used to treat infected people. It is aimed at assessing the efficacy of convalescent plasma to limit complications of COVID-19 patients.

Odisha is now the third State besides Delhi and Maharashtra to start this procedure.