The first plasma therapy in Karnataka for COVID-19 patients will begin on Saturday, and will be carried out jointly by the Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute (BMRCI) and the HCG Hospital.
Jawaid Akthar, Additional Chief Secretary (Health and Family Welfare), said that many people who have recovered from the disease have come forward to donate their blood.
“We will begin by collecting the samples of two or three people who have recovered. Those who have other co-morbidities cannot participate in this process,” he said.
C.R. Jayanthi, Dean and Director of BMCRI, said that a mass appeal will be sent to patients who have recovered from COVID-19 to come forward and donate.
“Those who are discharged and are in the period of 14 to 28 days can come forward to donate.”
The trial will test the efficacy of plasma therapy which uses antibodies of cured patients to treat critically ill COVID-19 cases.
HCG’s Associate Dean Vishal Rao said that while the cured patient will donate at HCG Hospital, the recipient will receive the plasma at BMRCI.
“We will have to follow the rules and ensure that complete anonymity of the patients are maintained,” he said.
Medical Education Minister K. Sudhakar pointed out that this treatment will not be used on patients who have mild and moderate symptoms.
“We will use it on patients who are critical and are on ventilators or who are in intensive care units (ICU),” he said. The approval for plasma therapy has been obtained from the Indian Council of Medical Research.
In Karnataka, there are currently 304 active COVID-19 patients, of which five patients are in the ICU.
Sources in the Health and Family Welfare Department said that this therapy may turn out to be promising. They are hoping it will help patients with Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI) recover from COVID-19.
“Out of 18 COVID-19 related deaths that have occured in the State, a majority of them also had a medical history of SARI. So we hope that this therapy will help us reduce the morbidity rate in this category of patients,” said department officials.
