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Maharashtra health minister says Mumbai’s first plasma therapy experiment successful
The Maharashtra government on Wednesday has said that the first plasma therapy experiment in the city conducted at Lilavati Hospital has been successful.
The Maharashtra government on Wednesday has said that the first plasma therapy experiment in the city conducted at Lilavati Hospital has been successful.
With the experiment’s success on Wednesday, the state hopes that the therapy will prove useful in treating coronavirus patients by strengthening their immune system.
“Municipal commissioner Praveen Pardeshi has informed me about the successful experiment at Lilavati. Another such experiment is being conducted at BYL Nair Hospital, which is a specialised hospital for Covid-19 patients. We are confident that the trial at Nair Hospital too, would be successful,” state health minister Rajesh Tope said.
The health minister had added that if all the guidelines pertaining to the donor and recipient are followed and approved by the ethics committee, the success rate of the treatment is very satisfactory. Tope also said that the state government has been planning to use the therapy effectively in Pune, where the number of patients is very high.
After the Centre’s nod, the state has begun the plasma therapy experiments at government as well as private hospitals.
The Union health ministry and the state health department had earlier made an appeal to recovered Covid-19 patients to come forward and donate their blood for collection of convalescent plasma for transfusion into other positive patients. The convalescent plasma therapy uses antibodies from the blood of recovered patients to treat others. This could also help in immunising the front-line workers, including doctors, family members of the patients and their high-risk contacts to restrict the spread.
The Union health ministry had also however, on Tuesday stated that the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has not given a clearance for its usage as a prescribed treatment for the infection. The ministry also said that the therapy is at an experimental stage and is only one of the many ways of treatment.
Though the state has been conducting experiments, the plasma therapy trials require the Drug Controller of India and ICMR’s nod, said state officials. “The tests are being conducted at municipal and governmental levels as well as by private hospitals and the results are varying. Though it can prove beneficial to some patients, it has some shortcomings too,” an official said.
