While the vaccine trials are still going on across the globe by the renowned labs, Plasma Therapy came as a blessing to the medical community. With the history of saving an ample number of patients during the previous pandemics such as SARS, the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), and measles, involves the transfer of antibodies from a patient who has just recovered from COVID-19 are given to the patient who shows symptoms. It is to the common knowledge that ICMR recently gave a nod for the taking up the therapy on an experimental basis which came as a ray of hope amidst the increasing deaths.
However, a 53-year-old male patient, the first to undergo plasma therapy in Maharashtra, passed away, said Dr Ravishankar, CEO Lilavati Hospital, Mumbai. The incident came into limelight after 2 days while the patient succumbed to the novel coronavirus on April 29. Reportedly, the patient didn’t show any improvements in his condition ever since the doctors transfused 200 ml of plasma.
ICMR had noted that convalescent plasma therapy comes with its own share of technical challenges, like antibody titer testing and health risks like severe allergies. This triggered debates in the Indian medical fraternity over the success of the therapy in India though it has been a proven technique previously.
