Delhi sets up plasma bank, Centre questions efficacy

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India Covid cases

Count: 5,48,318

Recovered: 3,21,722

Fresh fatalities: 380

Total deaths: 16,475

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About the therapy

Convalescent plasma of recovered patients is rich in antibodies that can potentially mitigate Covid

Plasma therapy has been approved in India as an experimental therapy

Multi-centric trials are underway, but results are awaited

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 29

On a day when Delhi became the first state in the country to announce the establishment of convalescent plasma bank to manage Covid patients, the Centre issued a cautionary advisory saying the efficacy of plasma therapy had not yet been established and was still at trial stage.

The National Blood Transfusion Council, which oversees blood donation and transfusion services across India, issued renewed guidelines on the subject: “The treatment of Covid patients using convalescent plasma is under trial and currently no evidence of efficacy of convalescent plasma as a treatment modality has been established.”

The council, however, asked blood banks across India to keep systems in place to enable cured patients to return as donors for convalescent plasma once the efficacy of the treatment was established.

The guidelines came parallel to Maharashtra Government launching the largest convalescent plasma therapy trial in India under project Platina.

Convalescent plasma of recovered patients is rich in antibodies, which can potentially mitigate Covid. Plasma therapy has been approved in India as an experimental therapy with multi-centric trials underway at various hospitals.

The Covid cases in India today neared 5.5 lakh, settling at 5,48,318, as per the morning updates issued by the Ministry of Health. The daily surge in cases was 19,459 with deaths touching the 16,475 mark after 380 new fatalities over 24 hours.

The number of active infections now stands at 2,10,120 and 3,21,722 patients have recovered, taking the national cure rate to 58.67 per cent.