"Plasma will be available only when second wave patients start to recover": SMCH Plasma Bank Incharge

The second wave of the deadly Covid-19 infection is spreading at a brisk pace all over the country. With India reporting over 3 lakhs positive cases per day for the past 2 consecutive days, the Cachar district has also reported 92 Covid positive cases on Friday alone, with two patients still in critical condition. Silchar Medical College & Hospital (SMCH) happens to be the only health institute in the entire valley to provide critical health care services and is also, just like last year, providing Covid treatment in its ward. Hence, being equipped with essential medical facilities like adequate oxygen support, ventilators and plasma units collected from covid recovered patients is of utmost importance. Reports all over the globe have suggested that the plasma of Corona recovered patients contain stronger and more lethal antibodies which assist Covid victims in battling the Covid-19 virus with better efficacy.

Last year in the Cachar district, many Covid recovered patients donated their plasma after getting recovered for which they were appreciated by many. This plasma was administered to future Corona patients to assist their bodies in fighting the Covid-19 virus. But this year, as the 2nd wave of the Coronavirus has started to pile up positive counts all over the country, the health infrastructure of the Cachar district has come under strict scrutiny once again. Barak valley’s only plasma bank in Silchar is merely running on fumes when it comes to plasma stock. Upon inquiring, it was discovered that the Silchar Medical College & Hospital (SMCH), where the plasma bank is located, has currently 5 units worth of plasma left in their stock.

Dr. Indrajit Debnath, In-charge of the SMCH Plasma Bank in Silchar, said, “Right now, our plasma bank has hardly 5 units of plasma remaining in our stock. And most of these are of negative blood groups. The stock that we piled up last year, was used up mostly to treat the later critical patients that came here for treatment. Now that a new strain has come up in the form of the 2nd wave, we are waiting for the current active Covid patients to recover soon so that they could later donate their plasma for Covid treatment of other critical patients with the help of plasma therapy. But right now, we don’t have much in our stock.” It is to be noted that even before the arrival of Corona vaccines, plasma therapy was the only form of treatment available in assisting the Corona recovery process, which is useful even to this day.

When asked about what would be their strategy if a situation demands an urgent need of plasma, Dr. Debnath said, “As of now, we can’t do much other than wait for the patients to recover from Corona and then come back to us at a certain date to donate their plasma. As most of them underwent their treatment here, we have all of their details so that we can trace them when needed. But if the situation gets to a point where we desperately need some plasma to treat critical patients, the SMCH can ask for aid from other medical colleges and health centres around the state, through the Principal of the college. If any of those institutions have sufficient plasma stock in their bank to donate us some, we might be able to get some plasma units from them. But that totally depends on the particular situation.”

As the Covid infection rate is going up with each passing day, a shortage of emergency medical equipment has also been witnessed throughout the country. The broken health infrastructure has been left exposed yet again in this 2nd wave of Corona as lack of sufficient oxygen cylinders and ventilators in the hospitals and Covid centres have also contributed to the rise of the death count. Amid such a scenario, plasma therapy is the most convenient and helpful way of assisting a critical Covid patient in battling the effects of the deadly Covid-19 virus. And now, only time will tell how quickly the district manages to fortify its only plasma bank.