PANAJI
In a bid to strengthen the state government’s ongoing drive for plasma donation with incentives, Health Minister Vishwajit Rane on Friday hinted at his department’s intention to grant free monitoring and treatment for the family of each plasma donor for the duration of one year.
Briefing media, Rane stated, “we are thinking on these lines in the way of incentives. In any case, at Goa Medical College we give everything for free. We can give the donors’ family free monitoring and treatment for a year. There is no problem.”
He further disclosed that while the process of plasma extraction is carried out using the new apheresis machine at GMC, each plasma extraction kit costs Rs 8,000.
Offering an overview of the ongoing plasma donation drive, Rane said, “We expect a spike in the month of September as a result of which we have to relook at every aspect of what has to be done. Several employees of pharmaceutical companies have come forward to donate plasma. In fact, our Director of Health Services Dr Jose D’Sa was given plasma twice.”
Dean of GMC Dr S M Bandekar expressed gratitude to each plasma donor and informed that GMC now receives more than six to seven plasma donors every day, numbers which are still significantly lower than the requirement of 20 to 25 donors per day.
Bandekar also informed that over 140 members of GMC’s medical staff have contracted the coronavirus while on duty at the hospital. “Total 51 doctors, 21 nurses, 23 interns, 35 Multi Tasking Staff (MTS) and 10 technical staff at GMC Hospital have contracted Covid-19 infection till date. You won’t get infected unless you are treating patients closely,” he stated.
