Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday announced that the state government has decided to start a ‘Plasma Bank’ in the national capital for the treatment of Coronavirus patients.

The ‘Plasma Bank’ will start operation in the next two days, he said and urged recovered patients to donate their plasma.

The ‘Plasma Bank’ will be set up at the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences, Delhi.

The chief minister informed that anyone who needs plasma will need recommendation from a doctor.

Plasma therapy was among the five weapons Kejriwal had recently mentioned to fight the deadly infection, while asserting that the treatment turned out to be a life-saver for people in the capital.

At the beginning of his media briefing on the Coronavirus situation in the national capital, Kejriwal paid tributes to Dr Aseem Gupta, who was working as an anaesthesia specialist in the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash (LNJP) hospital, died of COVID-19 on Sunday. He was 56.

“Dr Aseem Gupta, a senior doctor of LNJP Hospital passed away due to COVID-19 yesterday. We salute his spirit and sacrifice. His family will be given a compensation amount of Rs 1 Crore by our government,” chief minister Arvind Kejriwal declared.

Earlier today, the CM had offered condolences to the doctor’s family.

The senior doctor had tested positive on June 6, when he had mild symptoms and was shifted to a quarantine facility. His symptoms aggravated on June 7 and he was admitted in the Intensive Care Unit of the LNJP Hospital. He was then shifted to the Max Hospital in south Delhi on June 8 on his request. His condition deteriorated late on Saturday and he died few hours later.

On Saturday, raking up his slogan of “Corona harega aur Delhi jeetega”, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had asserted that his government has adopted ‘five weapons’ to fight the virus – ramping up bed capacity; testing and isolation, survey and screening, providing oximeter and oxygen concentrator and finally treatment with plasma therapy.

Meanwhile, the national capital is the second worst hit state with a total of 83,077 Coronavirus cases, including 2,623 deaths and 52,607 recoveries.