Hospitals grapple with plasma shortage; doctors urge recovered patients for donation
4 May, 2021 | newsx bureau
Twitter is brimmed with SOS calls for plasma donation. In several places, doctors have been seen pleading the recently recovered to donate their plasma.
Hospitals across the country are grappling with an acute shortage of plasma as the exponential surge in the cases has outstripped the availability. This comes at a time when doctors have already predicted that the status of shortage of plasma is bound to worsen as the young population is preparing themselves to get vaccinated. Doctors from several hospitals of Bangalore, Delhi, Kolkata, and Pune have requested those who have recovered from the infection to donate plasma before taking the jab.
According to the National Blood Transfusion Council, blood banks do not accept blood or blood products from people who have received either dose of the vaccine within 28 days. The majority of blood donors hail from the age group between 18 and 44, which is also eligible for vaccination as of May 1. Twitter is brimmed with SOS calls for plasma donations.
In several places, doctors have been seen pleading the recently recovered to donate their plasma. Several medical experts believe that the reason behind a dip in the number of plasma donors is because the donors are apprehensive of coming to the hospital or in-house facilities for blood donation because of the fear of their own safety as the pandemic situation worsens in the country.
Who can donate plasma?
Between 18-60 years of age and for women, she should be above 18 years of age and should never have been pregnant.
Weigh more than 50 kgs.
Previously confirmed positive for COVID-19 by a laboratory test.
Recovered from documented infection of COVID-19 and have been symptom-free for at least 14 days.
Found negative for all pre-donation testing for relevant transfusion-transmitted infections.
Meeting all other blood donation criteria.