A piece of equipment that can separate platelets from blood will be donated to the Rajiv Gandhi General Government Hospital (GH) on Friday.
The Aphersis cell separator will help further the cause of blood donation and will also result in benefits for critical patients suffering from diseases like dengue.
One unit of blood donated by an individual is around 340 ml and yields only 40 ml of platelets. With the help of this apparatus, an individual can donate 250 ml of platelets. The equipment, worth Rs. 25 lakh, is being donated by a pharmaceutical company and will increase the yield of platelets without much loss of blood.
The cell separator has two points, which are connected to the blood donor.
“The machine draws the blood through the intravenous line and separates the platelets from the remaining components of blood and pumps the rest of the plasma back into the person’s veins. This way the donor does not lose a lot of blood,” said V. Kanagasabai, dean of GH.
This feature of the equipment can help patients suffering from haemorrhagic dengue who experience a drop in platelet count. The blood donor can regenerate the platelets within the next six hours.
State health minister V.S. Vijay will be inaugurating the equipment at the Madras Medical College.
