400km trips to donate plasma for critically ill patient

BHOPAL: To help a critically ill Covid-19 patient with ‘plasma therapy trial’, two corona beaters – including one who was at his mother’s funeral -- answered an SOS from a Bhopal hospital and travelled 400km each from Jabalpur and Datia to donate their plasma on Tuesday.
This therapy is in the experimental stage and the Centre cautioned on Tuesday that there is “no concrete evidence to support it as a treatment” for Covid-19., Railway employee R S Dhakad, who was diagnosed with Covid-19 in March and recovered in AIIMS-Bhopal, said he couldn’t ignore the call of his conscience. “At first, I was not inclined to travel to Bhopal because I was in Datia, at my mother’s funeral. However, I was told that my blood group matches with a critically ill patient. I could not refuse and arrived in Bhopal on Tuesday morning,” said 54-year-old Dhakad.
However, Dhakad’s blood could not be drawn despite repeated attempts,” said Dr Akansha Dubey of Chirayu Hospital. It reached out to the Jabalpur family, where the first coronavirus cases were reported in MP.
The plasma is drawn two weeks after the second negative test. “Three of our family had tested positive and we have all recovered. The blood type of my mother, Sunita Agrawal, matched with the recipient. We left for Bhopal on Wednesday afternoon as soon as we learnt the donation couldn’t be done in Jabalpur,” said 22-year-old Palak Agrawal, who has recovered from Covid-19.
Jabalpur collector Bharat Yadav provided his official car, and a police escort, for the two to reach Bhopal, said Palak, who studies in Hong Kong.
The mother and daughter arrived in Bhopal on Tuesday night. Sunita Agrawal, 45, is expected to donate her blood on Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning. It would be the first plasma therapy trial for Bhopal.