Chennai, Jul 22 (PTI) Tamil Nadu's first plasma bank was launched at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH) here on Wednesday, with a ruling AIADMK legislator who had recovered from Covid-19 becoming the first donor at the facility.

Health Minister Dr C Vijaya Bhaskar inaugurated the plasma bank, established at a cost of Rs 2.34 crore and equipped with all modern facilities.

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AIADMK'S N Sathan Prabhakar, representing Paramakudi Assembly constituency in Ramanathapuram district and who had recovered from Coronavirus recently, donated plasma, becoming the first donor here.

The infrastructure supports plasma retrieval of 500 ml each from seven people simultaneously in 30 minutes.

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The plasma therapy, involving infusion of blood from persons who had recovered from Coronavirus to the affected ones, is being used in the treatment of those infected.

"With the continuous support of chief minister K Palaniswami, we have established the first plasma bank. Those who recovered from COVID-19 are encouraged to donate plasma after 14 days," the Minister said.

However, patients with comorbidities should not donate the plasma, he said and urged those who have recovered from the dreaed virus to come forward without fear or apprehension and donate plasma for saving lives.

The state government was planning to set up similar facilities in Government Stanley Medical College Hospital, Omandurar Multispeciality Hospital and Dr MGR Medical University, all in this city, besides the Government medical colleges at Salem, Coimbatore, Tiruchirappalli and Tirunelveli, he said.

The RGGGH, the premier government medical institute, is also conducting trials in convalescent plasma therapy. As many as 24 out of 26 persons who participated in the process recovered from the illness.

The hospital, which was the first to treat COVID-19 patients in Tamil Nadu, is equipped with 2,000 bed facilities to treat those infected.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)