As convalescent plasma therapy seems to have the desired effect on bringing down COVID-19 mortality rate, the Karnataka government on Wednesday announced an incentive of Rs 5,000 to plasma donors. "State Government will give Rs 5000 each as appreciation money to the plasma donors," Dr Sudhakar K, Karnataka Minister for Medical Education, said as he appealed to the recovered patients to donate plasma and save lives. Several states have recently started pushing for convalescent plasma therapy with Delhi launching two plasma banks. In convalescent plasma therapy, antibodies from the blood of patients who have recovered from COVID-19 are used to treat serious patients. The trials for COVID-19 treatment using plasma therapy are being carried out by different countries and have shown promising results.

Source: dna July 16, 2020 02:03 UTC