Karnataka Announces Incentives of Rs 5,000 for Plasma Donors for Covid-19 Treatment

The Karnataka government on Wednesday announced that an incentive of Rs 5,000 would be given to people who have recovered from the coronavirus infection and are willing to donate plasma to help cure other COVID-19 patients.

Highlighting that 17,390 people have recovered in the state out of which 4,992 are in Bengaluru, medical education minister K Sudhakar appealed to the recovered patients to donate plasma and save lives.

"Please don't take it otherwise.. we have decided to give an incentive of Rs 5,000 to the donor.

Please come forward voluntarily and help the patients recover by way of donating plasma," Sudhakar said during the daily briefing on the COVID-19 situation.

To a question on plasma therapy tried in Karnataka, Sudhakar said five patients were subjected to the therapy of which three recovered while it did not work on two patients who were already on their death bed.

"We have a proven information that for COVID patients, plasma transfusion definitely works to a greater extent.

That's why the government has issued the order of giving an incentive of Rs 5,000," Sudhakar told reporters.

Cautioning private hospitals not to fudge the records and give contradictory statements with their press briefings, the minister said private establishments and the government should come together and contain the pandemic. He warned private hospital owners that government would take over their hospitals if they put out wrong data about availability of beds to treat coronavirus patients.

The warning came a day after the government said that criminal proceedings would be initiated against two reputed private hospitals for not cooperating with the government in COVID care.

The government shut down the out-patient department of the two hospitals for two days as a warning to them.

On the strike by doctors at the Jagadguru Jayadeva Murugarajendra Medical College for alleged non-payment of their stipend for many months, Sudhakar said the government has taken a serious note of it and it will be released to the students in three to four days with arrears.