Centre’s U-Turn On Plasma Therapy; Says, Can Be Life Threatening

The health ministry on Tuesday said that “Plasma Therapy” is only one of the several therapies that is being explored currently and it is still in an experimental stage.

Senior Health Ministry official Lav Aggarwal said that, "There is no approved therapy for Covid-19 in the country including Plasma therapy. Plasma therapy is being experimented with and there is no evidence to support it as a treatment. It is only at an experimental stage. If not used properly, it can create life-threatening complications."

The health ministry also added that the top medical research institute, ICMR is conducting a nationwide study to measure the efficacy of Plasma therapy.

Lav Aggarwal further asserted that the plasma therapy is used by the US Food and Drug Administration only as an experimental study.

The health ministry also suggested that the patients who are presymptomatic or those having very mild symptoms should consult a medical officer.

What Is Plasma Therapy?

When a person gets infected with coronavirus, then their immune system responds to the infection by creating antibodies, which attack the virus. Over time, the antibodies will be formed in the plasma, the liquid portion of the blood.

In plasma therapy, the antibodies found in the plasma of the people who have recovered from COVID-19 infection are taken to treat patients.

Several hospitals in India are reported to have started depending on Plasma from COVID-19 recovered patients. Plasma Therapy has yielded better results. A few days ago, it was reported that six critical coronavirus patients had nearly recovered after the administration of the plasma therapy.

India has reported 29,974 confirmed cases including 22,010 active cases and 7,026 cured/discharged cases. A total of 937 people have died due to COVID-19.

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