No data on number of plasma banks in country: Govt
New Delhi: Convalescent plasma therapy has not been recommended by the Ministry of Health as a mainstay of COVID-19 therapy and there is no proposal under consideration to set up plasma banks, Rajya Sabha was informed.
In a written reply, Minister of State for Health Ashwini Choubey said states have taken initiative to establish such banks to provide plasma therapy to COVID-19 patients but no central database of such banks is maintained.
He was responding to a question on the total number of plasma banks running at present to provide plasma therapy to the Corona/COVID-19 patients in the country state-wise and if the government proposes to set up more plasma banks to cope with disease in the country.
Convalescent Plasma therapy has been included in the Clinical Management Protocol for COVID-19 as an investigational therapy for use in a defined subgroup of patients only, Choubey underlined.
Use of this therapy may be considered in patients with moderate disease who are not improving by use of other mainstay therapies like oxygen supplementation, steroids, etc under strict medical supervision.
"Convalescent plasma therapy has not been recommended by the Ministry of Health as a mainstay of therapy and there is no proposal under consideration of Ministry of Health to set up plasma banks for providing COVID-19 therapy.
"States, however, with a view to ensure availability of plasma, in case needed, have taken initiative to establish such banks in certain banks. No central database of such banks is maintained," he clarified.
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Jailed Palestinian writer wins International prize for arabic fiction
Abu Dhabi: Palestinian author Basim Khandaqji, who has been imprisoned by Israel since 2004, has been named the winner of the 2024 International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF) for his novel “A Mask, the Colour of the Sky”.
Khandaqji’s publisher Rana Idriss, of the Lebanon-based Dar al-Adab publishing house, accepted the award on his behalf at a ceremony in Abu Dhabi.
The book tells the story of Nur, an archaeologist living in a Palestinian refugee camp in Ramallah, who adopts a “mask” when he finds a blue identity card belonging to an Israeli in the pocket of an old coat.
Born in Nablus, Khandaqji has been imprisoned by Israel since he was 21 years old. He studied political science at Al-Quds University from prison with a thesis on Israeli studies and has published several poetry collections and novels.
In an interview in January, Khandaqji’s brother said his family had not been able to speak with him for four months, a problem many Palestinians held in Israeli prisons have faced since October 2023.
Khandaqji wrote the award-winning book in prison in 2021, when he would manage to write about two pages each day between 5am and 7am, although “very often, the papers are taken from him and destroyed by the guard”, his brother said.
