Afaq Bhat
Srinagar, July 22: Amidst the rising COVID-19 cases in Kashmir, medicos and experts are urging the patients who have recovered from the infection to come forward and donate the plasma to save the lives of ailing patients.
On Thursday Director SKIMS, Dr A G Ahanger in a statement said, “This virus is novel and it has been behaving in a novel way. You never know today you can have 100 COVID-19 positive patients at hospital, tomorrow, the number can go rising and vice-versa, so we have to remain ready and well equipped. The recovered COVID-19 patients are warriors—who are helping the administration in fighting and defeating the novel virus. All the COVID-19 positive patients can be the saviors of humanity amid this crisis.”
“Plasma therapy in Kashmir started around one month ago and it has provided encouraging results. Doctors are hoping that this can go a long way in fighting COVID-19 in the Valley,” an analyst told Precious Kashmir.
He said that the demand to set up a plasma bank had gained momentum in Kashmir after the plasma therapy worked well in Delhi and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal made the results public. “First ones to donate plasma were the members of Tablighi Jamaat who were demonized by a section of media soon after the outbreak of the pandemic in the country,” the analyst added.
He said that during the past six months researchers and scientists have understood the behavior of the virus and they too are hopeful of coming up with a vaccine within a month or two. “It appears that cure is not that far away but till then we will have to manage. The people who have recovered have emerged as a ray of hope in this hour of gloom and despair,” the analyst said.
An observer said, “When the pandemic broke out in the Valley in March this year at that point of time no treatment was available. Today doctors have Redemsivir and plasma therapy to bank upon. It means that uncertainty and gloom are slowly disappearing. We have to hold the fort for month or two as vaccine is on the way and once it comes into the market life will automatically come back on track.”
He said, “These are tough times. We have to help each other to survive. We should not stigmatize COVID-19. Virus can attack anyone. We have to fight it collectively. Following COVID-19 norms is must to come out from this deadly phase.”
