‘Donating plasma doesn’t reduce the blood quantity’
13 Jul 2020 10:48:53
Principal Correspondent ;
Medical Education Minister Amit Deshmukh and Secretary Dr Sanjay Mukherjee appeal COVID-19 recovered people to donate plasma
“If God has given you the immunity by creating antibodies in you then there is no harm in donating that smaller part to others who can get a new lease of life. The blood you donate never gets depleted. Our body prepares that much quantity within 24 hours,” pointed out Dr Avinash Wase, President of Vidarbha Association of Pathologists and Microbiologists. Maharashtra Government has introduced plasma therapy for the patients tested positive for coronavirus going through serious illness. This plasma therapy requires blood from the people who became corona-free. People with a fear of losing plasma are showing less interest in donating the same.
Dr Avinash Wase, explained the technical part of plasma donation wherein one doesn’t lose anything. Instead the donor becomes the giver. Medical Education Minister Amit Deshmukh and Secretary Dr Sanjay Mukherjee are appealing people to donate plasma to give the other corona patients a remedy. People are afraid of two things-- Firstly, they may get infected if they donate the blood. Secondly, the quantity of plasma they have may get reduced if they donate blood. With reduction in quantity of plasma in the body, they become vulnerable to coronavirus.
Dr Wase said, “There is no chance of infection. In the wake of Covid-19 situation, every hospital is taking utmost case. Anti-bodies are there and immunity is working. Like blood donation where we lose the blood but quantity doesn’t get reduced similarly, if plasma is donated, it doesn’t get decreased.” “After 14 days of recovery of any patient, he or she becomes fit to donate blood. When plasma is taken out, RBC will go into the body.
Our body has 10% blood surplus. In plasma therapy, 400 ml is taken out. It means still 300 ml becomes excess. The blood gets recovered back within 3 to 5 days. Patient’s blood will not get reduced. World over no problem was detected with the donor. So everybody must come forward to donate the plasma,” appealed Dr Ashish Khandelwal, noted pathologist and of G S K Blood Bank.