Odisha: Patnaik assigns ministers to encourage recovered COVID-19 patients for plasma donation

With plasma therapy yielding positive results in recovery of critically ill COVID-19 patients in Odisha, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday tasked 19 ministers to encourage recovered patients to come forward for plasma donation.

Patnaik's action in this regard came hours after Odisha's first plasma therapy recipient woman patient getting recovered from the infection and being discharged from a Cuttack hospital.

The chief minister assigned separate districts to ministers to encourage the recovered COVID-19 patients to voluntarily come forward for plasma donation, an official in the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said.

A person can donate plasma four weeks after recovery from COVID-19, the official said one can donate plasma several times after a gap of 14 days.

Two critically ill COVID-19 patients can be benefitted from one unit of plasma, the official said.

With a total of 808 people recovering from the deadly virus on Friday, 15,200 patients have so far recovered from the disease in the eastern state.

"The ministers will tour different districts and talk to the recovere patients to donate plasma," the official said.

While state Finance Minister Niranjuan Pujari has been assigned Puri district, Parliamentary Affairs Minister B K Arukha will campaign for plasma donation in Kandahamal and Ganjam district.

Similarly, Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister R P Swain will look after Bhadrak and Kendrapara districts, while Transport minister Padmanabh Behera will go to Jharsuguda and Boudh district to encourage plasma donation.

Urban Development Minister Pratap Jena has been assigned Cuttack and Mayurbhanj districts while Higher Education Minister Arun Sahu has been asked to go to Nayagarh and Khurda districts.

Others given the task include Sudam Marndi (Sonepur), Sushant Singh (Bolangir and Sambalpur),N K Das (Kalahandi and Nuapada), Tukuni Sahu (Deogarh and Sundergarh), Jagannath Saraka (Gajapati and Koraput),D S Mishra (Dhyenkanal), Ashok Panda ((Angul), S R Dash (Jajpur), J P Panigrahi (Balasore).

They also include Premananda Naiak ((keonjhar), R N Das (Nabarangpur and Jagatsinghpur),Padmini Dian (Rayagada) and T K Behera (Malkangiri).

The 19 ministers will cover the entire 30 districts of the state for the purpose, the official said.

So far, the state has started plasma therapy in dedicated COVID hospitals in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Berhampur while a plasma bank has been set up in Srirama Chandra Bhanja Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack and Ispat General Hospital in Rourkela.

Two more plasma banks will be set up in Maharaja Krishna Chandra Gajapati Medical Collegeand Hospital in Berhampur and Capital Hospital in Bhubaneswar, Additional Chief Secretary of Health and Family Welfare department P K Mohapatra said.

Mohapatra said 13 serious COVID patients have received plasma therapy in the state so far and most of them are recovering fast.