West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced that cord blood, that is collected after cutting and clamping the umbilical cord, would be used in Covid-19 treatment, according to a report by the Indian Express.
The CM also announced that tele-counselling would be employed to help Covid-19 patients, a task that would be assisted by psychology students.
“We already have a plasma bank where blood is donated by recovered coronavirus patients. We also have a cord blood bank. This cord blood bank can also be utilised for the treatment of the Covid-19 patients,” said the TMC supremo.
According to Chief Secretary Rajiv Sinha, the state intends to set up a more systematic Covid management system. All hospitals, whether public or private, would update their Covid-19 numbers, including critical, mild and asymptomatic ones. This information will be publicly accessible.
500 people are expected to be recruited as Covid staff. They would be selected on the basis of a walk-in interview.
The chief secretary also detailed the other measures taken regarding the pandemic, including the addition of over 500 beds for Covid patients in public and private facilities. He added that over 25,000 tests had been conducted in Kolkata itself, 80 per cent of which were Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests.
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