Agra, Jul 25 (IANS): Aligarh Muslim University's Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College (JNMC) will soon start convalescent plasma therapy for the treatment of coronavirus patients, an official said on Saturday.

The medical college would soon purchase a Rs 29-lakh plasma apheresis machine for its blood bank, Vice Chancellor Prof Tariq Mansoor said.

Prof Mansoor, a surgeon, said: "In the limited studies undertaken globally, convalescent plasma as an adjunct to other supportive therapies and treatments has shown some benefit in the management of Covid-19 patients."

He pointed out that to volunteer as a plasma donor, the patients must be fit, aged 17 or over and should have a large enough blood volume, calculated by height and weight.

The Vice Chancellor said that the health professionals at the JNMC were working long hours to attend to a number of coronavirus-infected patients as the hospital had been declared a dedicated Covid L2 facility by the government.

So far, over 40,000 samples have been tested for Covid-19 with the two RT-PCR Thermo Fisher machines costing Rs 35 lakh each installed at the medical college.

More than 800 samples from Aligarh, Mathura, Noida, Kasganj, Hathras, Bulandshahr, Agra, Rampur, and Etah are tested at the hospital every day. Various departments of JNMC are also running telemedicine facilities for non-Covid patients.