Gurugram plasma bank struggles to find donors

Gurugram, Oct 24 : The Health department of Gurugram launched its first dedicated plasma bank for Covid-19 patients on August 15, but the district health facilities are still struggling to find donors for it.

According to official data of the health department, out of 24,010 recovered Covid-19 patients, only 338 came forward for plasma donation so far.

Of these, 202 recovered coronavirus patients were found to be fit for plasma donation.

"Around 401 units of plasma at the Rotary Blood Bank have been received from these 202 patient's, after which 397 units of Plasma have been given by the Rotary Blood Bank for treatment of other Corona infected patients," said Gurugram Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Virender Yadav.

He said there was a need to reach out to the masses through social and mainstream media to create awareness for plasma donation.

Meanwhile, doctors said they are trying to motivate people to donate plasma.

Apart from this, the district administration has claimed that the fatality rate has come down from 0.85 per cent to 0.78 per cent in the district.

The CMO, however, said that Gurugram was on the verge of being the first district in the state to conduct one lakh tests per million.

"We have already conducted more than 98,000 tests per million," he added.

The recovery rate for Covid-19 is 91.79 per cent in Gurugram.

Yadav said that the second round of serological survey has also been started from Wednesday, and 850 tests will be conducted across the district.

"Plasma donation is a personal decision, but we urge people to come forward for plasma donation.

Plasma donation is safe and can save someone's life," Yadav said.

--IANS

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Source: IANS