The Delhi government will create a plasma bank in the capital, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced here on Monday even as he paid his respects to a senior doctor who succumbed to coronavirus at the LNJP Hospital.
The Delhi government, he said, will give a compensation of ₹1 crore to the next of kin of Dr. Aseem Gupta, an anesthesiologist, who contracted COVID-19 on June 3 and succumbed to the infection over the weekend.
“Dr. Aseem Gupta was a very senior doctor at LNJP Hospital; he contracted Corona on June 3; his wife too contracted it but was able to prevail over it. We pray that his soul rest in peace,” Mr. Kejriwal said.
“It is because of people like him that we are able to confront corona. The Delhi government will give his family ₹1 crore as compensation,” he added.
The first-of-its-kind plasma facility, which Mr. Kejriwal said would possibly be the only one in the country, would become functional after two days.
To function from the ILBS Hospital, he said, the plasma bank would be created in response to issues being faced by patients’ families in procuring it.
“Now, the issue we faced with hospital beds seems to have developed in relation to plasma; there is need for it but there is less availability,” he said.
“This plasma bank will cater to both government as well as private hospitals; this will be created at the ILBS Hospital. Doctors or hospitals will need to approach the ILBS recommending the need for plasma; the bank will start functioning in two days,” said the Chief Minister.
Mr. Kejriwal appealed to those who had been cured of COVID-19 to step forward and donate plasma to this bank. The Delhi government would also make arrangements for such patients to be transported to and from the plasma bank, he said.
“This can be your way of doing your bit not only for the city and the country but for humanity,” he added.
