PANAJI:Goa will start treating Covid-19 patients in a critical condition with blood plasma therapy from next week, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said on Wednesday.
Sawant said that the Health Department was in the process of creating a plasma storage facility at the existing blood bank.
"We are procuring a plasmapheresis machine for treatment of patients with plasma voluntarily extracted from persons cured of Covid-19. The treatment will begin from next week, " Sawant told reporters here.
The Chief Minister said that a special pathologist as well as a doctor specialising in transfusion would also be appointed on a contract basis to facilitate the treatment.
"We have asked Health Secretary Nila Mohanan to start the process of hiring the personnel required, " Sawant said.
Sawant said that the state government's blood bank was being upgraded to store plasma for future use. "We will freeze blood plasma units in a freezer at our blood bank so that it can be used at a later date, " he said.
In view of the rising Covid-19 cases in the state, the Health Department is in touch with its counterpart in Kerala, where treatment of Covid-19 patients in critical condition with blood plasma has yielded successful results.
Goa currently has 759 active coronavirus cases.