How To Donate Plasma For COVID Treatment: Step-By-Step Guide

Recovered from Coronavirus? Want to know how to donate plasma for COVID treatment? Here is everything you must know.

India’s and particularly Karnataka’s tally of COVID positive cases touched 47,253 making it the state with the fourth highest caseload in India.

Over 5,000 individuals who had tested positive for COVID -19 in Bengaluru have recovered but only 8 of them have been willing to donate plasma. Let’s help others and find out how to donate plasma for COVID treatment.

Plasma Therapy And COVID-19

When a person is infected with the coronavirus, his/ her immune system creates antibodies to fight the virus. These antibodies build up over time and are accumulated in the plasma. Plasma refers to the liquid element in the blood.

Many doctors believe that plasma therapy will be helpful for COVID-19 patients who cannot be benefited by other treatment forms. In Bengaluru, the therapy has been used on 8 patients and of these 5 recovered while 3 died.

How To Donate Plasma For COVID Treatment

Individuals who have recovered from the coronavirus infection can help treat others by donating blood for plasma therapy. The donor must be below the age of 45 years and should be free from other diseases such as HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C and other locally communicable diseases.

The process takes about 1 hour wherein the donor will be connected to a small device that takes blood, separates the plasma from it and returns the remaining red blood cells to the body.

How To Donate Plasma For COVID Treatment – Steps To Follow

Here are the steps to follow.

Step 1: Call 080 6191490
Step 2: Inform the call executive that you have recovered from a coronavirus infection and want to volunteer to donate blood.
Step 3: Dial the extension 104#. Your call will be forwarded to a team of tele doctors.
Step 4: Share your medical details with the doctors and wait for them to reach out to you.

Government Efforts To Encourage Plasma Donation

According to pulmonologists, recovering patients should be informed abut the need to donate plasma while they are being discharged.

The government has also been asked to help build a plasma bank. In response, the state government announced that anyone willing to donate plasma will be given a cash reward of INR 5,000.