Arvind Kejriwal lauds plasma donors, says proud of Delhiites

Amid growing concerns over the spread of the novel coronavirus, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal praised plasma donors and appealed to them to motivate more recovered patients to come forward and donate. The Delhi government has set up India's first plasma bank at the ILBS Hospital, with an objective to maintain a plasma stock from those who have already recovered from the disease.

New Delhi: Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday spoke to plasma donors and thanked them for their contribution in saving the lives of coronavirus patients.

The chief minister praised them for donating plasma and appealed to them to motivate more recovered patients to come forward and donate.

"When I hear stories of plasma donors, I feel very proud of my fellow Delhiites. So, I decided to call and congratulate some donors," he tweeted, sharing the audio of his conversation with the donors.

The Delhi government has set up India's first plasma bank at the ILBS Hospital, with an objective to maintain a plasma stock from those who have already recovered from the disease.

Addressing a press briefing earlier, Kejriwal had said that as plasma has been proven as an effective solution for the recovery of moderate patients, its therapy should be provided to patients until a vaccine comes.

Read:First case of postmortem on Covid-19 infected body

He said that the plasma bank will enable the people to obtain plasma without any hassles and had also laid out detailed eligibility criteria over who can and cannot donate plasma.

In the audio clip, corona recovered patient Srishti said she felt symptoms for five days but has fully recovered now.

Kejriwal praised her for donating plasma and said he was proud of her. Srishti thanked him for motivating people to donate plasma and also lauded the infrastructure and facilities of the plasma bank at the ILBS hospital.

She also said that she suffered no weakness or pain, and the doctors and the medical staff at the plasma bank were very helpful and guided her through the whole process.

Read:Delhi CM asks hospitals to counsel recovered COVID patients to donate plasma

Kejriwal also expressed his concerns over people assuming that they will get infected again if they visit ILBS hospital, despite knowing that ILBS is a non-COVID hospital.

Srishti also said that the hospital is very clean and hygienic and there is no risk of getting infected, as all precautions are taken inside the hospital. She also said that she will also encourage her neighbour who has recovered to donate plasma.

Meanwhile, the number of coronavirus patients in the national capital has crossed the one lakh mark. More than 3,000 people have succumbed to the deadly disease. The silver lining, however, is the recovery rate which is over 74 per cent.

(IANS Report)