Gandhi hospital doctors are preparing to use plasma cell therapy to fight the coronavirus. They are planning to collect the plasma from the recovered corona patients and transfer it to the patients in the severe condition. Similar experiments are already underway in China, the US and South Korea. “We hope to do this too,” said Dr. Rajiv Rao, president of Gandhi Hospital General Medicine. It is still in the permissions stage.
If any virus enters our body, our immune system starts to fight it. This results in developing antibodies against the virus. These antibodies help to kill the virus. The same thing happens in the case of coronavirus-infected people. They are produced in our bodies throughout life and helps to fight against the virus.
Blood is collected from those who have fully recovered from the corona. The plasma is separated from it immediately which is called convulsant Plasma. This plasma contains antibodies that can act against the coronavirus. The plasma is loaded into the corona patients in severe condition. The antibodies already present in the plasma act as an instant immunity in the patient’s body. The process as a whole is called the convulsant plasma transfusion. The plasma experiment also gave good results in the treatment of SARS and MERS viruses that had previously plagued the world.
Recently, China has experimented and succeeded in five corona patients with this technique. Experiments are being conducted in other countries, including South Korea and the US. ICMR has allowed Kerala doctors to treat this disease with plasma technique. Doctors are preparing for plasma experiments in our state. For this, the permission of the ICMR and DCGI (Drug Control General of India) must be obtained. The hospital ethical committee may require a permit before that. Dr. Rajarao said the necessary documents are being prepared to this extent.
Most of the people have recovered from the coronavirus, but doctors say that everyone’s plasma cannot be used as a medicine. Yashoda Hospital General Medicine department has drafted the Guidelines handed over to the government regarding whose plasma can be used as medicine. Not all patients are treated by this technique, plasma transfusion is used only as a last resort.
Rules to be Followed For The Transfusion Process
- The Donor should be aged between 18 – 50.
- The Donor should weigh more than 50kgs.
- The Donor should have completed the 14 days quarantine period after recovery.
- The Donor should be mentally and physically strong.
- The Donor acceptance is mandatory.
- The Donor Haemoglobin must be above 12.5 units.
- Only 400 ml of blood should be taken from the donor at once. After 48 hours another 400 ml can be taken.
- Blood pressure should be between 100/60 to 150/90 during donation.
- The Donor should not have any respiratory diseases, heart and kidney diseases.
- Mostly, males should be preferred as donors.
- The Donor and patient blood group should be matched.