In the absence of a vaccine, plasma therapy has shown positive results in treating people who are infected with the coronavirus. Blood plasma of a recovered patient is infused in an infected patient which helps in the recovery of a person infected from coronavirus. The antibodies of a recovered patient can help fight the virus.
The Chief Minister of Maharashtra Uddhav Thackeray had launched Project Platina in June and had appealed people who have recovered from coronavirus to come forward and donate plasma. Project Platina is designed to conduct trials of convalescent plasma therapy for the treatment of coronavirus patients. However, not many people have come forward to help because of a fear that they might again get infected with the virus.
According to a report in Times of India, the state has 1.6 lakh recovered patients and at least 20 per cent from those who could donate plasma. Out of the database of 7,000 recovered patients, only 150 bags of plasma have been collected. Said Dr Mohammed Faisal, state coordinator for Project Platina. He further added “There are concerns around travel and lost wages. Fear is also deterring people. We are working around those, while the trial is still going through last-minute paperwork and has time to collect more plasma, we would be comfortable when each centre has at least 100 units.”
When the teams were coordinating with potential donors they found that loss of wages was the primary reason why people refused to come forward to donate plasma in the rural areas and in urban areas people feared coming out to help. Dr Faisal also added that people who will donate plasma for trial will get travel, food expenses, and wages for the day. Nair, Sion, KEM and Bal Thackeray Trauma Hospital are the trial site in Mumbai.
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