Dr Tauseef Khan practices at Lucknow's King George's Medical University.
A doctor at Lucknow's prestigious King George's Medical University, who recently recovered from COVID-19, has donated his blood for plasma therapy on other seriously ill coronavirus patients and has also appealed to other patients who have recovered to come forward and help.
Dr Tauseef Khan is a resident doctor with the department of infectious diseases at the King George's Medical University (KGMU). The university has a dedicated COVID-19 hospital and also a testing laboratory . Dr Khan was the first doctor in Uttar Pradesh to get COVID-19 after he came into contact with a patient who had been admitted to the coronavirus ward at the hospital. The doctor was subsequently admitted to the hospital and has fully recovered now.
"I was in isolation for 21 days and then, my test returned negative. I then went for a further 14 days' home quarantine and I am fully cured now. I have come to the KGMU for plasma donation. I would request all cured patients to come forward and help with plasma donation. Through plasma donation, we can help such patients whose condition is critical. It is an easy procedure and there is no risk," Dr Khan said in a video released by the university.
Plasma therapy trials are going on in Delhi, and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has said they are seeing encouraging results.
The process of donating plasma to treat COVID-19 is not very complex and can be done in just two hours, a donor in Delhi told NDTV on Saturday. One of the most discussed methods of treatment of the disease caused by the novel coronavirus is plasma therapy, which involves the transfusion of plasma from a convalescent coronavirus patient to a critical patient. The blood of a recovering patient is rich in antibodies produced by the body to fight the virus, which are expected to help the critical patient recover.
"It is a proud moment for the university. Not only the doctor but another cured patient has donated blood for fighting COVID-19 ," said Professor MLB Bhatt, the vice chancellor of King George's Medical University.
Photos showed another cured patient, Uma Shankar Pandey, also donating his blood for plasma therapy.
Uttar Pradesh has over 1,800 coronavirus cases, including 29 deaths. India has recorded over 27,000 cases, including 872 deaths, as of Monday morning.