Covid-19: Goa to launch campaign to encourage plasma donation

The Goa government on Saturday said it would launch a campaign to encourage the recovered Covid-19 patients to donate their plasma for treatment of others in the state.

State Health Minister Vishwajit Rane said this awareness campaign would start from Sunday.

"We will be encouraging the recovered Covid-19 patients to come forward and donate their plasma. It will save lives of other people," he said.

For latest updates and live news on coronavirus, click here

Rane said that an apheresis machine, which is required for the plasma therapy, would be installed at the state-run Goa Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) by Monday.

"We will do whatever is required to save lives of the people," he said.

Meanwhile, two patients, who were undergoing treatment at ESI Hospital in Margao town of South Goa, succumbed to the infection between Friday night and Saturday morning, a senior health department official said.

These two victims- a 80-year-old man and a 31-year-old man- took the state's death toll to eleven, he said.

The number of COVID-19 cases in the state has now grown to 2,251, of which 895 are active patients.