Panaji: Goa government has written to the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) seeking their permission to treat COVID-19 patients through plasma therapy, Health Minister Vishwajit Rane said on Tuesday.
He said that the state has all the required facilities to store the plasma, which can be used to treat the positive patients.
Interacting with media during his visit to Pernem taluka in presence of Deputy Chief Minister Manohar Ajgaonkar and others, Rane said that state government has already written to the ICMR seeking their node to treat COVID-19 patients under plasma therapy.
“We will be procuring latest machine to derive plasma,” he said adding that government will be recruiting more doctors in transmission medicine.
“Government will be employing 50 doctors to expand the testing facilities by taking swabs of the suspected patients,” Rane said.
He also said that Goa government will procure additional ambulances to cater to the increasing COVID-19 cases in the state.
He said that the situation vis-à-vis COVID-19 is changing every week.
“We need to have weekly review of the situation on COVID-19 front. We need to follow all the necessary guidelines. Fighting COVID-19 should be community effort,” the minister said.
Rane said that the additional ambulances would be procured by the state government to cater to the increasing need of the patients.
He admitted that one COVID-19 positive patient from Taleigao village near Panaji had to wait for hours before the ambulance arrived to pick him up.
“We have appealed various firms to donate Ambulances under CSR initiative. Also, government will be procuring additional ambulances which would work under existing 108 initiative,” he said.
Rane said that the government will monitor all the facilities in covid care centres.
“We have also decided to give orientation for panchayat members.
We want people to wear masks,”he added.
