COVID-19: plasma therapy still in experimental stage:Govt
NEW DELHI : The Centre on Tuesday said that plasma therapy is not a proven therapy for treatment of COVID-19 and is still in the experimental stage. And can even prove “life threatening” for a patient, the government said today amid a surge of hope brought in.
There is “no concrete evidence to support plasma therapy as coronavirus treatment,” senior health ministry official Lav Agarwal said today during the ministry’s daily briefing. “The therapy is still in an experimental stage and the Indian Council of Medical Research is conducting a national study on it. It can even be life threatening if not carefully done,” he added.
Delhi had reported the country’s first plasma therapy success story last week, the patient was a 49-year-old man who got treatment at a private hospital. The positive result triggered a rush to donate plasma and Mumbai today started its plasma therapy trial.
“Until ICMR concludes its study and a robust scientific proof is available, Plasma therapy should be used only for research or trial purposes. There can even be life-threatening complications if plasma therapy is not used as per guidelines. Until and unless this is approved as a therapy for COVID-19, it is unjustified to spread any claim about the effectiveness of this therapy,” he said.
Delhi had reported the country’s first plasma therapy success story last week, the patient was a 49-year-old man who got treatment at a private hospital. The positive result triggered a rush to donate plasma and Mumbai today started its plasma therapy trial.
The Indian Council of Medical Research – the nodal body for the fight against coronavirus in the country — has called for clinical trials across the country to assess plasma treatment, which is just one of the methods being tested to control the virus which is completely new to humans.
