Deepali kalia
Delhi High Court on May 11 gave a suggestion to Delhi Government to “chase” the celebrities who have recovered from COVID-19 to donate plasma after it was told that people only came forward to donate plasma when a friend or family member required it.
The suggestion was given by a bench of Justice Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli.
Some lawyers at the hearing also informed the court that people hesitate coming to plasma banks or hospitals for donation over fear of possibly getting infected.
The court said, “For that you need publicity, you need propaganda. You need to convince people and that can only happen if they see someone they know coming forward to donate. So, go and chase the celebrities who got infected and have recovered. Go and chase them for plasma donation and ask them to make a statement.”
The court further queried the Delhi Government over why the entire process of donation and issuance of plasma takes 4-5 hours.
On this point, a Delhi Government official described the entire process to the court. It was stated by him that when a donor comes in, he/she is questioned about his/her health and then sent for sample collection.
The sample then is tested for various diseases like HIV, malaria, hepatitis and is also screened for COVID. This process takes about 2 hours and even more in case of a backlog.
After the receipt of results, the process of plasma separation from blood is initiated which takes 35 to 55 minutes and it usually depends upon the thickness of the donor’s veins.
The plasma to be issued is then thawed after it is taken out of the deep freeze. Then it is inspected for antibodies and compatibility with the recipient. Only then it is issued and this further takes up to 90 more minutes.
“It is a long and tiresome process” the official stated at last and further added that the government was now operating 24 hours on all seven days of the week as hundreds of donors were turning up every day.
Thus, taking care of them during normal working hours has not been possible for the government.
