Month on, Amritsar GMCH fails to give plasma therapy to Covid patients
Till August 5, four critically-ill patients of GMCH, Amritsar, and two of GMCH, Faridkot, were treated through plasma therapy and all six had recovered from the virus successfully.
No critically-ill Covid-19 patient was given plasma therapy at Amritsar’s Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Amritsar, in the past one month.
Plasma therapy is considered as one of the most successful treatments for Covid-19 patients. Under the convalescent plasma therapy, antibody-rich blood plasma of patients, who have recovered from Covid-19, is preserved for transfusion into critical patients. In June, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) had allowed Government Medical Colleges (GMCs) in Amritsar, Faridkot and Patiala to treat Covid patients with plasma therapy.
Till August 5, four critically-ill patients of GMCH, Amritsar, and two of GMCH, Faridkot, were treated through plasma therapy and all six had recovered from the virus successfully. However, in the last one month (from August 5 to September 5), seven more Covid-19 patients at GMCH, Faridkot, were treated through plasma therapy while GMCH, Patiala, also successfully infused plasma of recovered patients into 10 critical and sick patients and helped them to recover from the virus, but no patient was given this treatment in GMCH, Amritsar.
As per the GMCH staff, the hospital is struggling in getting plasma from the donors as most of the Covid survivors are reluctant to come back to the hospitals for donation. Till August 5, the GMCH, Amritsar, could persuade only four donors to give plasma for the treatment of others.
Also, GMCH, Amritsar, is a part of the Punjab’s plasma pool system through which the hospital can exchange plasma with medical colleges of Patiala and Faridkot.
“In last one month, over 55 Covid-19 patients from Amritsar died at the hospital. Besides the holy city, many more patients of neighbouring districts had also succumbed to the virus at GMCH, Amritsar. Though the hospital is admitting moderate and critically-ill Covid-19 patients daily, it is not giving plasma therapy to the patients. This is because the hospital is short of plasma donors and the plasma bank is almost running dry. At present, 22 patients of Amritsar are in GNDH’s intensive care unit and 18 are on oxygen support. Also, 35 more people from Amritsar, who are at moderate level, are admitted there and are eligible for getting the plasma treatment”, said a senior doctor of the hospital, on the condition of anonymity.
Dr Avtar Dhanju, head of Covid-19 isolation ward of GMCH Amritsar, said, “We have some units of plasma available with us but most of the patients are being admitted to the hospital in extremely sick condition. No patient was eligible as per ICMR’s guidelines for getting plasma from recovered patients.”