BHUBANESWAR: AIIMS Bhubaneswar has received 15,891 outpatient department (OPD) patients in May after consulting with doctors via telemedicine and AIIM.
Express News Service
BHUBANESWAR: A ray of hope beamed on the face of Manisha Pradhan as the airlifting team arrived at the corridor of AIIMS-Bhubaneswar on Thursday afternoon to shift her younger brother Amrit Pradhan, who has been battling Covid-19 for over a month, to Chennai-based Apollo Hospital.
After initial procedures that took a couple of hours, the four-member team started preparation to lift the 24-year-old software engineer in an air-ambulance fitted with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) that was waiting for the patient at the Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA), here.
At 5 pm sharp, Amrit was taken in an ambulance from the Covid ward of AIIMS to the airport from where he was airlifted to Chennai. The Odisha government facilitated a special ‘green corridor’ for hassle-free transportation of the critically ill patient. The ambulance reached the airport in a record 12 minutes.
Image used for representational purpose only
CUTTACK: The massive vaccination programme is likely to trigger shortage of blood in the coming days in the state since those inoculated won’t be able to donate blood for a while.
Somnath Mukherjee, head of the department of transfusion medicine and blood bank at AIIMS Bhubaneswar, said “As per recent guideline of ICMR, there must be a four-week gap between the first and second doses of Covaxin and 6-8 weeks in case of Covishield vaccine.”
Following that, a person taking two doses of Covaxin won’t be able to donate blood for 56 days. While those taking Covishield will have to wait for at least 84 days before they can donate blood. As more than 40% of the population belongs to the 18-45 age-group, chances of blood shortage is likely. It is also important to note that this age-group contribute most during blood donation camps in the state.