In a first, Manesar man recovers from Covid-19 through plasma therapy

GURUGRAM: A 48-year-old health worker has become the first Covid-19 patient in the city to have recovered with plasma therapy at Faridabad’s ESIC Medical College and Hospital. He is likely to be discharged on Thursday.
The man, who works at ESIC hospital in Manesar, was admitted to the Faridabad facility after he developed symptoms like fever, cough and breathlessness on June 4. He tested positive later and was put on oxygen support. His saturation level was 80 mm Hg. He was given two 200ml doses of plasma on June 8 and 9.
“The patient could not even talk because of breathlessness. After we gave him his first dose of plasma, he improved symptomatically. His saturation level remained the same but he felt better after the first dose. After the second dose was administered, his saturation level improved and oxygen support was removed. We conducted his Covid test again and it came out negative,” said Dr Nikhil Verma, nodal officer for Covid at ESIC Medical College and Hospital.
“We observed that the recovery was quite fast. We gave him plasma at 10pm and he was symptomatically fine the next day. However, we can’t prove that it was only due to plasma. His condition improved after the second dose significantly… These are encouraging results. When we get more patients for plasma treatment, we can analyse better,” he added.
In line with ICMR protocols, other tests were conducted over the next five days. “The patient is now perfectly fine and has been shifted from the ICU to the ward,” he added.
“We are currently conducting the therapy as part of ICMR trials and cannot do it for every patient. The main problem is that people who have recovered hesitate and don’t want to donate plasma,” said Dr Nimisha, assistant professor, haematology (blood bank).
In this case, the donor was a 45-year-old man who was admitted to ESI hospital with fever and cough. Two weeks after he was discharged, the staff requested him to donate plasma, to which he agreed. But doctors said that not many have been as cooperative.
The hospital said it had shortlisted 200 Covid patients who had recovered.
“A majority of them were hesitant and refused to donate plasma, saying they felt weak. There is psychological fear, as many don’t want to take a chance and visit a hospital. Another reason is social stigma. If a person agrees to donate plasma, our ambulance goes to pick the donor from their house, after which they might worry that their neighbours might speculate that they have tested positive for Covid again,” said Dr Nimisha.
Two more donors have come forward to donate plasma and the hospital is now looking into their fitness status. It has shortlisted seven other donors too.