In Assam, the Army has undertaken a plasma donation drive for COVID-19 patients. At least 60 soldiers from the Indian Army volunteered to donate blood plasma to save the lives of critical COVID-19 patients in the state. The screening of 45 jawans took place on Wednesday. Many of these Army personnel had recently recovered from COVID-19.
“We are always with the people of Assam and even at this time and every time,” said Lieutenant General Shantanu Dayal, GOC, 4 Corp told NDTV.
“Since March, we have been helping the nation in combating COVID-19 and and our next step is to save lives by donating plasma,” said Lieutenant Colonel Harsh Wardhan Pande, Defence Spokesperon.
In Assam, the government has been promoting plasma therapy from which at least 300 COVID-19 patients have recovered.
“They (soldiers) are deployed in borders and these days we have seen how they are fighting for our motherland and still they are sparing time to help,” Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told NDTV.
Assam started plasma donation on July 3 and the first transfusion was done on the July 9.
“We have got success with our strategy of plasma treatment at the early stage. We use plasma therapy right from the point we notice a gradual decrease of oxygen saturation in the patient. This has helped us to arrest the falling saturation level,” explained Assam’s Health Secretary Samir Sinha who has spearheaded the plasma donation campaign.
With 0.25 per cent, Assam has one of the lowest mortality rate due to COVID in the country. The state now has 22,623 active cases while 51,693 patients have recovered from the disease and three others have migrated out of the state.