Karnataka govt to give Rs 5,000 'appreciation money' to plasma donors

As convalescent plasma therapy seems to have the desired effect on bringing down COVID-19 mortality rate, the Karnataka government on Wednesday announced an incentive of Rs 5,000 to plasma donors.

People who have recovered from the coronavirus infection can donate plasma to help cure other COVID-19 patients.

"State Government will give Rs 5000 each as appreciation money to the plasma donors," Dr Sudhakar K, Karnataka Minister for Medical Education, said as he appealed to the recovered patients to donate plasma and save lives.

The minister said 17,390 people have recovered from COVID-19 in the state out of which 4,992 are in Bengaluru.

Addressing the daily briefing on the COVID-19 situation, Sudhakar said "Please don't take it otherwise.. We have decided to give an incentive of Rs 5,000 to the donor. Please come forward voluntarily and help the patients recover by way of donating plasma."

Sudhakar said five patients in Karnataka were subjected to the therapy of which three recovered while it did not work on two patients who were already on their death bed.

Several states have recently started pushing for convalescent plasma therapy with Delhi launching two plasma banks. Maharashtra, on the other hand, has launched a convalescent plasma therapy-cum-trial project for treatment of critical COVID-19 patients, dubbed as the world's largest project of its kind.

In convalescent plasma therapy, antibodies from the blood of patients who have recovered from COVID-19 are used to treat serious patients. Plasma from the blood of people who have recovered from the infection is obtained to inject into patients undergoing treatment.

The convalescent plasma of a person recovered from a disease contains antibody, a protective protein produced by the immune system in response to the presence of a foreign substance such as a virus. The plasma of such a person contains a higher number of antibodies. The therapy involves using convalescent plasma of a person who has recovered to treat a patient.

The treatment is used only on serious patients.

The trials for COVID-19 treatment using plasma therapy are being carried out by different countries and have shown promising results.