NEW DELHI - When Mr Adwitiya Mal's father-in-law was diagnosed with Covid-19 at a hospital in Delhi, doctors advised plasma therapy given his worsening condition.
But for many other families in India desperate to lay their hands on anything that could potentially save their loved ones, offering money has become the only way to access blood plasma, which has potential therapeutic benefits. Nearly two-thirds of India's current tally of 1,003,832 cases have recovered, but a lack of willing donors and a late start to set up authorised plasma banking centres has led to a flourishing black market for this"liquid gold".
This off-the-grid market exists in spite of existing legal provisions in India that proscribe such practices. A 1996 order from the Supreme Court outlawed paid donors and unlicensed blood banks. The National Blood Policy, drafted in 2007, also prohibits the sale and trade of blood. Dhoond, an online initiative that Mr Mal co-founded in June to link donors and recipients, currently has a database of around 300 donors. But it has 10 seekers for every one donor on its platform.
The Delhi government opened its second plasma bank on July 14 at the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital, which is the city's biggest government facility dedicated to Covid-19 patients.
Source: News Formal (newsformal.com)
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