Cured of COVID-19, Habra girl becomes Bengal’s first plasma donor

Monami Biswas, who was among the first in West Bengal to be cured of Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), has become the first plasma donor in the state. Biswas wrote on Facebook that she had donated her plasma on Wednesday and it was a feeling of both nervousness and excitement.

“After screening, finally I donated my blood plasma today,” she wrote on Facebook, adding that “a person who has recovered from COVID is able to make antibodies against it. And if you also don’t have any pre-existing ailments you are considered a healthy body and CAN donate your blood plasma for the benefit of patients who are in a critical condition,” she wrote.

Biswas said that she had fulfilled all the requisites and had donated plasma at the Medical College & Hospital, Kolkata. For awareness among those who do not know the procedure, Monami wrote on her Facebook page that the procedure is exactly the same as donating blood – with blood drawn from the body through a needle.

“There is one needle that is used to draw blood from your body, and the blood runs through tubes that carry it into a machine. That machine separates the plasma from the blood. The same needle sends back blood to your body while the (yellowish coloured) plasma is collected in a bag… It’s toooo cooolll.  This happens through multiple cycles, until the time enough plasma is collected, based on the capacity you can donate. I donated 500ml today,” she wrote.

Medical College & Hospital in Kolkata is the first in the state to get approval for trials for plasma therapy.

Doctors treating Covid-19 patients praised her and said that her plasma can be administered on two Covid-19 positive patients. Plasma of some others too are to be collected in the coming days.

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