Covid-19: Kejriwal says initial plasma therapy trial outcome promising

Delhi chief minister Arvind Keriwal has urged those who recover from the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) to donate plasma for those hospitalised with severe infections

Delhi chief minister Arvind Keriwal has urged those who recover from the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) to donate plasma for those hospitalised with severe infections after the condition of four people treated with the therapy appeared to show an improvement.

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“The initial results are very promising and I would request those who have recovered from the coronavirus infection to come and donate their plasma. Many of you must have donated blood for dengue – for that too we do not take the blood, only the platelets are taken out and the rest of the blood goes back to your body,” he said.

“This is the same thing, we will just take out the plasma. You can save the life of a patient. We will call you for donations, we will arrange transport, and we will ensure you are not harmed in any way,” Kejriwal said.

So far, 2,376 people in Delhi have been infected and 50 have died.

Last week, Delhi’s biggest facility for treating Covid-19 cases – Lok Nayak Hospital –received permission from the Indian Council of Medical Research and drug regulatory body Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation to conduct a randomised control trial in collaboration with the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences.

For the treatment, a blood component – plasma – rich in virus fighting antibodies is taken from those who recover from Covid-19 and given to those who have severe infection to help them fight the virus.

SK Sarin, director of the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences, said: “This therapy is not new, it has been used for several other diseases before. We are conducting a trial for the effectiveness of this treatment in Covid-19 cases.

“The trial will include 10 patients who receive the therapy and should be completed within the next 10 or 15 days.”

The institute chooses donors and conducts plasmapheresis to derive blood plasma for the treatment.

The first patient to receive plasma therapy was a 60-year-old man admitted to the intensive care unit of the hospital. He was not on ventilator but had a low oxygen saturation of 85%, a condition that indicates his organs weren’t receiving adequate oxygen. Normal oxygen saturation for healthy individuals is between 95% and 100%.

The man’s respiratory rate was high at 30 per minute – meaning he was breathing rapidly. The normal respiratory rate is 12 to 20 breaths a minute in adults.

The man was administered plasma therapy on Tuesday. “His respiratory rate has come down to 20 per minute and the oxygen saturation has improved to 98%. The patient is likely to be moved out of the ICU today. And there have been similar improvements in the condition of the other patients who received the therapy. This is promising,” said Kejriwal.

Kejriwal said Delhi will apply for wider use of the therapy for all severe patients admitted in the city’s hospitals.

“For now, we have permission from the Central government to perform a limited trial only for serious patients in Lok Nayak Hospital. They had asked us for the results of the limited trial to grant permission for the use of the therapy on others. Next week, we will apply for plasma therapy for all serious patients in Delhi,” he said.