Pune: PMC To Encourage Plasma Donation Among Its COVID Recovered Employees

Pune, September 1, 2020: Plasma therapy has been proved quite effective in saving the lives of critical patients infected from COVID-19. However, it has been noticed that not even one per cent of people cured of COVID-19 in the city are coming forward to donate plasma. Therefore, to address this issue, an awareness programme by PMC has initiated to encourage plasma donation among its officials who have recovered from the viral infection. This will help in reducing the mortality rate in the city.

According to Divisional Commissioner Saurabh Rao, plasma therapy has been effective in curing critical patients and saving their lives. However, only 750 recovered patients have donated plasma so far and out of which, 70 percent of them are police officials. “A large number of recovered patients are from the civic body so if police officials can donate plasma then the civic officials should also actively donate plasma. In this way, it will set an example for other cured patients to come forward and donate plasma to reduce the mortality rate”, Rao said.

As of August 30, a total of 76,686 out of 94,497 patients have recovered from Covid-19. While the number of deceased stands at 2,267. As many as 833 are critical and 2,949 are on oxygen support.

Mayor Murlidhar Mohol also mentioned that the PMC will take the lead in creating awareness around plasma donation. He along with and other civic staff who are cured of the infection will donate plasma. Ramchandra Hankare, PMC health chief mentioned that it is important to conduct sample test on each donor so to check if they are free from infection and does not have any ailments.