First plasma bank at Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences, and others to shut down in Delhi

New Delhi: The first plasma bank in India which was established at the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS), in 2020 would be closed down, since blood plasma is not used prevalently to treat Covid-19 these days.

The Institute, which was a nodal centre for the collection of plasma, have very little plasma left which would get finished up soon. Many other plasma banks in the city have either closed down or are using the available limited stock to treat other diseases, reports the Times of India.

Also Read:ICMR should not remove plasma therapy from COVID treatment protocol: Delhi Health Minister

A plasma bank official said, "After the government guidelines came out the plasma bank was closed down. We didn't waste much of the plasma as we were already dealing with limited stock. During the second Covid-19 wave, not much plasma was collected despite the demand being huge. Only a few units of plasma are available, which will expire soon. We will discard them. There has been no demand for plasma for the Omicron variant."

Seven hospitals were given the permission to begin plasma trials on Covid-19 patients, which are the AIIMS, Max Hospital Saket, Indraprastha Apollo, Ram Manohar Lohia and Maulana Azad Medical College in coordination with ILBS, Batra Hospital and Lady Hardinge Medical College.

An official associated with the Lok Nayak Hospital, the largest covid-19 hospital under the delhi government, where the second plasma bank was established told TOI, "This bank is still operating, but the usage is restricted to benefit only mild cases. The guidelines didn't ban plasma. It was just an advisory. They didn't say it was not to be used. However, in the past one year we have not used it on any patient. As plasma is required for other cases we are keeping it in stock. But we are not taking new donations. Plasma is stored at very low temperatures and can be used when required."

The Union health ministry had revised the clinical guidelines regarding the management of adult covid-19 patients, and had removed the plasma therapy from the treatment and had put it under an "off-label" treatment. The hospitals were eventually asked to not advise the kin of patients to look for plasma.

Meanwhile, the delhi health minister, Satyendar Jain said that the doctors could suggest it depending on the cases, "It depends on a case-to-case basis and will be done only after the recommendation of the doctor. Nevertheless we must know that there is no sure-shot specific medicine meant for treatment of Covid-19."

Also Read:PGI Chandigarh establishes Plasma Bank, to encourage cured COVID patients to donate plasma