E-Paper
PGIMER’s first Covid-19 patient treated with plasma therapy recovers
The 60-year-old man from Kurukshetra in Haryana was admitted in a serious condition with pneumonia and required oxygen therapy. The doctors observed that the patient was taken off the oxygen therapy in just three days and gradually his condition improved with the help of plasma therapy and supportive care
Doctors at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGMIER) have found encouraging results in battle against Covid-19 as a 60-year-old man from Kurukshetra in Haryana has recovered early after being administered the convalescent plasma therapy.
The patient who was admitted at PGIMER on June 1 is the first to get treated with plasma therapy here. He was admitted in a serious condition with pneumonia and required oxygen therapy.
The doctors observed that the patient was taken off the oxygen therapy in just three days and gradually his condition improved with the help of plasma therapy and supportive care.
PGIMER director Jagat Ram said, “The results have been encouraging as the recovery time decreased than the usual period. The plasma administered on other two patients has shown no side effects. The exact outcome will be known after conclusion of the trial.”
Professor Pankaj Malhotra from department of internal medicine said, “PGIMER is one of the centres of ICMR national trial on convalescent plasma therapy for Covid-19 positive patients who require oxygen therapy. PGI was chosen as one of the ICMR site in the last week of April. The first patient donated plasma on May 9 and the first one who became eligible to get plasma therapy was enrolled on June 1.”
Professor GD Puri, dean (academics) and head of department of anasthaesia and intensive care, said, “The successful recovery with plasma therapy is a positive indicator. The trial is a teamwork of the department of internal medicine, anesthesiology and intensive care, transfusion medicine, virology, community medicine and public health and endocrinology. We will need more donors to come forward for plasma therapy clinical trials. We have to counsel the patients who have recovered and their relatives to convince them to donate blood.”
Head of department of transfusion medicine professor Rati Ram Sharma, who played a pivotal role in the therapy, said, “This is a great moment for all of us at PGIMER as a critically ill patient recovered with the help of convalescent plasma therapy. We are grateful to those who came forward to donate plasma for this noble cause and hope that many more will follow so that the same therapy can be provided to the needy patients as well.”
WHAT IS CONVALESCENT PLASMA THERAPY?
Convalescent plasma therapy involves taking antibodies from cured Covid-19 patients and injecting them in the blood of patients suffering from the disease. The transfusion of plasma is carried out through a machine which separates the plasma from the blood which is then retransferred into the donor. The plasma thus obtained is injected into a sick coronavirus patient. A donor supplies 300-500 ml of plasma and the transfusion process takes between 60-90 minutes.
