Rajasthan mulls large-scale use of plasma therapy to curb deaths

JAIPUR: Claiming that plasma therapy yielded encouraging results at Sawai Man Singh Medical College, the state government is taking necessary measures for its large-scale use across the state, aiming to prevent Covid-19 fatalities.
The state government is determined to make plasma therapy an integral part of Covid-19 treatment but with the permission from the Centre and it will be done with the consent of the donor and the recipient.
“All the government-run medical colleges of the state will write to Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) for its approval for the large-scale use of plasma therapy on Covid-19 patients,” said Vaibhav Galriya, principal secretary, medical education.
Galriya said that they have also been in touch with Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), which is also encouraging use of plasma therapy on Covid-19 patients, while conducting a study to evaluate effectiveness of plasma therapy on Covid patients.
The health department claimed that 47 patients have been given plasma therapy so far and all of them have recovered from Covid-19, which is a good sign.
At SMS Hospital, Covid-19 patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome were treated with convalescent plasma containing neutralizing antibodies. The health department claimed that infusion of plasma was followed by improvement in clinical status of the patients. A health department official said that the health minister Raghu Sharma has already issued directions to prepare a database of all those patients who have recovered from Covid-19 as they are potential plasma donors. The officials have been asked to get in touch with all such people and to encourage them for plasma donation.
The decision has been taken as 161 persons died of Covid-19 in the state in July, which accounts for 28% of total deaths in the state till date. The focus of the state government has shifted to saving lives of the patients by early diagnosis and early treatment.