Plasma Collected In Bengaluru Transported To Chennai Through Green Corridor For COVID Patient

In what could probably the first-of-its-kind in India, blood plasma from a COVID-19 recovered donor was transported from one state to another through a green corridor. The inter-state green corridor covering 348 kilometers was between Bengaluru and Chennai.

The convalescent plasma from HealthCare Global Cancer Hospital, Bengaluru was transported to a private hospital in Chennai on Sunday.

AFP

The recipient, an elderly woman from Chennai was admitted in the ICU and was on non-invasive ventilation. Her family was keen to explore the use of plasma therapy, considering her critical condition.

The request for plasma was sent to the Plasma Bank at HCG Hospital. Plasma was extracted from a donor at 3 pm on Sunday.

With the help of the Bengaluru City Police, a green corridor was created and an ambulance left the hospital at 5 pm carrying the plasma to Hosur, where it was transferred to a team from the Chennai hospital. The team reached Chennai at 9.30 pm.

Dr Vishal Rao, Associate Dean, Centre for Academics and Research, HCG Cancer Hospital, said, ¡°Green Corridors to facilitate transportation of organs is a common phenomenon, but an inter-state transfer of plasma was a first. Within two hours of extraction, we were all set to transfer the plasma. The police officials created a special green corridor so that the plasma could reach the hospital from Bengaluru to Chennai in a timely manner.¡±

BCCL

He further added, ¡°With each passing day, plasma requirements for patients are increasing and in the absence of a bank, it gets difficult to cater to them. A plasma bank functions like a blood bank, and has been created specifically for those who are suffering from Covid-19, and have been advised the therapy by doctors. We need more people who have recovered from the infection to donate plasma so that we can save lives.¡±

While the transfer of plasma from one state to another in such a short time is impressive, it also highlights another key issue - the lack of people willing to donate.

AFP

Though a large number of patients are recovering from COVID-19 across India only a fraction of the are willing to come forward as donors.

Until Mid-July when some more than 5000 people had recovered from COVID-19 in Bengaluru only eight of them had donated plasma.

This is the same story across the country, despite various state governments and NGOs setting up plasma banks and encouraging people to donate.