4 COVID-19 patients ‘recover’ after plasma therapy in Indore

Indore, May 7

Amid the ongoing debate in the medical fraternity about the efficacy of plasma therapy on COVID-19 patients, a private hospital in Indore has claimed that four such persons recovered from the infection after undergoing this therapy.

A district health official confirmed that plasma therapy was used on some positive COVID-19 patients at the privately-run Sri Aurobindo Institute of Medical Sciences (SAIMS), and said as per the doctors at that hospital, it helped these patients in their recovery.

The head of the Chest Disease Department at SAIMS, Dr Ravi Dosi, said one of these four patients is a 26-year-old woman.

“According to the protocol set by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for plasma therapy, we started the clinical trial on the woman and three male patients aged 23, 40 and 55 years from April 26. Now, all four patients are free of COVID-19 infection,” Dr Dosi said.

Consent was obtained from all four patients prior to the clinical trial of plasma therapy, he added.

The Chief Medical and Health Officer (CMHO), Indore, Praveen Jadia, said, “At SAIMS, the use of plasma therapy was done on some COVID-19 patients and according to the doctors there, it helped them in the recovery.”

He said plasma therapy would also be used on some positive COVID-19 patients at a government-run hospital in Indore soon.

“We hope it will help patients in their recovery,” Jadia added.

Convalescent plasma therapy involves injecting patients with plasma from people who have recovered from the COVID-19 infection. The theory is that the plasma will have the antibodies required to boost a sick person’s immunity response to the virus.

Dosi said after the treatment and plasma therapy under the prescribed protocol, the repeat samples of four patients tested negative for COVID-19.

In addition, reports of the CT scan of their lungs also confirmed that they had been free of the COVID-19 infection, he added.

Dr Dosi, however, said, “We are not yet announcing any results regarding the effect of plasma therapy on COVID-19 patients. We want to try this clinical trial on a few more patients. We will share the results of the clinical trial with the ICMR.”

He also said more than 30 people, who were free from the infection after the treatment, had expressed their desire to become plasma donors.

The experts said the antibodies developed in the blood of the people fully recovered from COVID-19, which helped them to fight the disease in the future.

Indore is among the worst-hit districts by COVID-19 in the country.

As per the official information, as many as 1,699 patients of this epidemic have been found in the district so far, of whom 83 people have died, while 595 others have been discharged from hospitals after recovery. PTI