A doctor receives a box with 550 ml of plasma at a farewell ceremony in Nantong on Feb 24. The plasma will be taken to treat critically ill NCP patients in Huangshi, Hubei province. [Photo/ ntfabu.com]

A total of 37 medical workers departed from Nantong, East China's Jiangsu province for Huangshi, Hubei province on Feb 24. They carried with them 550 ml of plasma donated by three local patients who recovered from the novel coronavirus pneumonia (NCP).

It is the second medical team the city has dispatched to aid Huangshi as part of a national "pairing up" policy to support Hubei.

The team consists of three management personnel, 18 doctors and 16 nurses from 12 local hospitals. They are aged between 26 and 60, and specialize in respiratory diseases, critical care, traditional Chinese medicine and mental health.

Before the new group arrived, there were already 100 medical workers from Nantong working at 10 hospitals in Huangshi and Wuhan fighting the epidemic.

"We are going to help treat patients in critical condition," said Zhong Chongjun, head of the team.

In the latest treatment and diagnosis guidelines published by the National Health Commission, plasma transfusions were listed as a safe and effective treatment for severe and critically ill NCP patients.

A group of nine patients recovering from the NCP volunteered to donate their plasma in Nantong on Feb 23. Three of them passed a series of strict examinations to qualify for the procedure.

According to Yan Feng, head of the Nantong Blood Center, a cell separator segregated the plasma from donator's blood and injected the rest of the blood back into the body.