Delhi to start plasma therapy trials to treat COVID-19 patients

Delhi on Wednesday will use convalescent plasma therapy, which uses antibodies from the blood of cured people, to treat critically ill Covid-19 patients on a trial basis.

This was conveyed during a review meeting on Covid-19 Patient Management in the national capital chaired by Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal and attended by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and top officials of the government and health teams of designated Covid-19 hospitals.

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"Delhi to use plasma technique for treatment on a trial basis to save the life of critical Covid-19 patients," Baijal tweeted after the meeting.

Dr S K Sarin, Director of Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS) who heads a team appointed by Kejriwal, informed the meeting that the Delhi government has got the approval from Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to use convalescent plasma technique.

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Baijal said that he has advised all concerned to strictly adhere to Standing Operating Procedures, guidelines and protocols issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare while dealing with Covid-19 patients.

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Last week, Kerala had become the first state in the country to get a nod from ICMR to start the treatment in the prestigious Sree Chithira Thirunal Institute of Medical Sciences and Technology.

Last Saturday, the ICMR has said, “convalescent Plasma is an experimental procedure for Covid-19 patients. Hospitals and Institutions planning to provide this modality of treatment should do so in a clinical trial with protocols which are cleared by the Institutional Ethics Committee."