GMC Patiala gets Punjab’s first plasma bank

PATIALA : Moving closer to effectively fighting Covid-19, Punjab will get its first plasma bank at Patiala with OP Soni, medical education and research minister, inaugurating it at the Government Medical College and Hospital here.

The college, which has successfully trialled convalescent plasma therapy, will now have a fully functional plasma bank.

Patients recovering from Covid-19 have antibodies (proteins to fight infections) in their blood. Plasma, the liquid portion of the blood, from people who have recovered from the disease is called convalescent plasma.

Earlier the college administration was sending blood samples of recovered patients to the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, for plasma.

Dr Harjinder Singh, principal, GMC Patiala said, “Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) had given its permission to conduct trial of plasma therapy at college and we have successfully achieved the target. We have enough people who will donate plasma.”