–Min. Anthony pleads with recovered patients to give blood to help turn the tide against COVID-19

By Naomi Parris

MINISTER of Health Dr. Frank Anthony is calling on those who would have recovered from the dreaded coronavirus to donate blood to assist with convalescent plasma treatment for patients who are still battling for their lives in the COVID-19 intensive care unit at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).
Dr. Anthony made the call during a virtual press conference, where he noted that convalescent plasma has already been used to treat critically-ill COVID-19 patients and has proven to be effective.

“Some of the novel things that we have been doing with our treatment of the more critical patients,” Dr. Anthony said, “is that we have introduced the use of convalescent plasma. By now, we have treated seven patients who were critically ill; we will continue to use convalescent plasma, because the doctors, having evaluated the patients they have treated, felt that this is a good method of treatment.”
As such, the Minister is urging recovered patients to donate their plasma to aid in the fight against COVID-19. He said that those who are willing to do so can visit the ‘blood bank’, where medically-trained staff will extract the antibodies.

“We want to urge the public and the persons who would’ve had COVID and recovered from the infection that if they can help us by coming in to the blood bank and donating some of their plasma,” Minister Anthony said, adding: “This can help patients that are critically ill, and make a difference between life and death.”
The minister further noted that the Ministry has placed high emphasis on treatment in all regional hospitals, as well as the GPHC.

PLASMA THERAPHY
Convalescent plasma therapy is the term given to the using of blood from people who’ve recovered from an illness to help others recover too.
In this instance, what it essentially means is that blood donated by persons who have recovered from COVID-19 has antibodies to the virus that causes it. In that case, the donated blood is processed to remove blood cells, leaving behind liquid (the plasma) and antibodies, which can then be given to people with COVID-19 to boost their ability to fight the virus.

For the plasma to be donated, it is first collected as a regular blood unit. However, instead of being placed in a bag, it is transferred to a centrifuge, where the plasma is separated from the other components of blood.

The blood is then returned to the body of the donor with a saline solution, and the plasma serum is collected in a separate bag. This step is repeated until the desired amount is collected. On a normal basis, one plasma contribution can yield up to four units of the substance. This is later transferred to the patient.
This particular form of passive immunisation has been used in the past to treat persons who were suffering from several other similar diseases like the Ebola, Spanish Flu, Argentine Hemorrhagic Fever, the H1N1 virus, and other coronaviruses such as the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

Last Friday, health officials had reported that some six patients were released from the Georgetown Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU), following their being successfully treated with the plasma from patients who recovered from the deadly COVID-19 disease.