Coronavirus: Two recovered women come forward to give plasma

A 45-year-old woman and

her 22-year-old daughter from Madhya Pradesh, who were discharged after recovering from COVID-19 disease, have volunteered to give their blood plasma for treatment of seriously ill patients, a senior official said on Tuesday.

Both the women from Jabalpur were among the first batch of four persons from the state who had tested positive for coronavirus on March 20, Jabalpur district Collector Bharat Yadav told PTI.

"The woman and her daughter who recovered from COVID- 19 disease have come forward to donate their plasma to treat some seriously-ill patients in Bhopal," he said.

Yadav said the district administration is making efforts to introduce plasma therapy to treat COVID patients.

 

In a related development, state-run Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Medical College and Hospital, based in Jabalpur, has approached the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) seeking permission for using the plasma therapy.

"We have approached the ICMR for permission to use plasma therapy to treat COVID patients," said Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Medical College and Hospital dean Dr PK Kasar.

He said the plasma therapy was currently used for treating burn cases.

Convalescent Plasma Therapy is an experimental procedure for COVID-19 patients. In this treatment plasma, a blood component, from a cured COVID-19 patient is transfused to a critically ill coronavirus patient.

The blood of a person who has recovered from COVID-19 develops antibodies to battle against the virus. This therapy uses antibodies from the blood of a cured coronavirus patient to treat another critical patient.

Earlier in the day, Union Health Ministry said the plasma therapy is at experimental stage and there is no evidence yet to support that it can be used as treatment for COVID-19.

Health Ministry Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal said currently there are no approved therapies for COVID-19 and there is not enough evidence to claim that plasma therapy can be used for treatment of the disease.