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Merge 104.8 | 18 May 2020
The Ministry of Health’s (MoH) Department of Blood Banks Services (DBBS) at the Directorate General of Specialized Medical Care has renewed its appeal to those recovering from COVID-19 to donate immune plasma after it was proven to be effective as a supportive treatment in some ongoing cases and, also, amid increasing demand for blood plasma due to the rise in numbers of patients in hospitals.
Photo credit: ONA
As Oman News Agency (ONA) reports, Dr. Zainab Salim Al-Fana Al-Oraimi, Director of the DBBS explained in an interview, many recovered COVID-19 patients have responded to their appeal and took the initiative to donate plasma at the department’s headquarters in Bousher.
Plasma donation appointments have also been scheduled with a number of recovered patients so that the DBBS can provide the plasma continuously to health institutions where this treatment is provided to patients in referral hospitals based on the evaluation of the attending physician.
As per ONA, the DBBS Director also confirmed that cooperation has been carried out between many primary health care centres and various blood banks in referral hospitals to contribute to the success of this national project. Through COVID-19 re-examination, healthcare staff can ensure that test results for the virus is negative before scheduling a donation appointment with a recovered patient.
Plasma donations are performed at the Central Blood Bank in Bousher, where it’s collected through a special device which separates it, and then divides it into 2-3 units.
Dr. Zainab highlighted that in an effort to deploy the latest technologies in this field, the technique of microbial inhibition for plasma has been introduced — in addition to introducing the COVID-19 antibody measurement test for examination of antibody levels of the donor blood, which will help identify the level of coronavirus antibodies in each donor.
Dr. Zainab added that studies indicate that the level of antibodies against the virus among recovered patients varies from one donor to the next. There are several reasons for this difference, she said, as recoveries of patients with severe symptoms were found to have a higher level of antibodies than those recovered patients with mild symptoms.
She also explained that they have observed that plasma therapy responsiveness also varied from one patient to another — which may be due to the level of plasma antibodies of the donor.
Given the increasing demand for blood plasma as a result of the rise in numbers of coronavirus cases in Oman, the DBBS appeals to all those who have recovered from COVID-19 to donate plasma to help patients in need by reaching out through WhatsApp at 9455-5648 or 2459-1255 to schedule an appointment.
Source: ONA
(Also read: Oman’s Central Blood Bank is in urgent need of 60-75 donors per day.)
