Delhi govt warns of strict action against those paying bribes in plasma donation process

As the national capital is pulling out all the stops to contain the Coronavirus pandemic, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain has warned that strict action will be taken if it is found that monetary transaction was done during the process of plasma donation. Speaking to media, he said that reports have stated that there are irregularities in the Plasma donation drive, adding that CM Arvind Kejriwal-led government will take strict action. 

The Delhi government has also decided to conduct serosurveys every month to formulate better policies for tackling Covid-19 in the national capital. The decision comes after the city government analysed the results of the latest sero-survey which showed that 23 per cent of the people here had exposure to the novel coronavirus.

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"Plasma donation to benefit COVID patients is a benevolent act. And, strict action will be taken if anyone tries to buy or sell plasma," he said. Later, in a statement issued by the Delhi government, Jain was quoted as saying, "Delhi government is very serious about plasma therapy. If there is any report of corruption regarding plasma donation then the government will take serious action against the people associated with such corruption". 

Earlier this month, hospitals in Delhi were ordered to appoint a nodal officer for requisition, coordination and issuance of plasma from the 'plasma bank' recently set up at ILBS.

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Delhi's COVID count

Delhi recorded 1,227 coronavirus cases on Wednesday, taking the tally in the city to over 1.26 lakh, while the death toll from the disease rose to 3,719, authorities said. Twenty-nine fatalities have been recorded in the last 24 hours, according to the Delhi health department bulletin on Wednesday. The active cases tally on Wednesday was 14,594, down from 15,288, the previous day. From July 11-19, fresh cases were reported in the range of 1000-2000 daily. The number of fresh cases reported on July 19 stood at 1,211.

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Serosurvey every month

Jain also said that after the surveillance on Tuesday, it was shown that Delhi has recovered from the infection. He added that the government has decided to conduct sero-surveillance every month.

"The National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and the Delhi government conducted a survey. The results of this survey came out yesterday. In 24 per cent population of Delhi, antibodies have been found. This means about one-fourth of the population in Delhi has recovered from the infection. In most of the cases, people did not know that they were infected. Sero-survey was done between June 27 and July 5. The Delhi government has decided to conduct sero-surveillance every month," the Delhi's Health Minister said.

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