MUMBAI: The clinical trial to study the use of convalescent plasma therapy in critical Covid-19 patients has kicked off in several medical colleges across Maharashtra. Also, plasma donation has seen a big surge in August, particularly in Mumbai with Ganesh mandals joining hands to bring donors. The spotlight returned to plasma therapy this week after the US FDA granted it an emergency approval allegedly under political pressure.
The state’s touted Project Platina that was designed to trial convalescent plasma therapy as well as treat selective cases was hindered by a lacklustre response from recovered patients. But thanks to the donations that picked up in August, the state now has over 750 units.
“We have shifted the strategy of calling donors to hospitals to holding camps or collecting blood samples at home for pre-donation checks or at hospitals near their homes. That, combined with growing awareness, has helped us get several donors,” said Dr Mohammed Faisal, state coordinator for Platina.
Around 130 moderately-ill patients have been given plasma outside of the trial on compassionate grounds in Maharashtra from Platina’s overall pool. “In moderate patients, it seemed to help,” Dr Faisal said. On the trial front, over 20 patients have got plasma in government medical colleges of Nagpur, Jalgaon, and Aurangabad, among others. 21 medical colleges across Maharashtra are part of the trial.
Mumbai’s KEM and BYL Nair hospitals will shortly join the trial, which is likely to go on for three months. While Nair got a nod from its institutional ethics committee two days ago, KEM is still awaiting approval. KEM hospital that till the end of July had a paltry stock of 19 units saw a jump in collection after organisers of Lalbaugcha Raja set up a blood and plasma donation camp. Since August 3, the hospital’s blood bank has collected over 160 units.
“One may call it a divine intervention but now we have enough units to conduct the trial. The mandal saw to it that devotees stepped into the camp for checks. We ran some of the pre-donation checks in the camp itself and communicated the names of whoever qualified to donate. They later ferried the donors to the hospital blood bank for the donation,” said Dr Jayashree Sharma, head of transfusion medicine at KEM.
Nair, which had collected nearly 120 units as part of the first plasma trial with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), will now make renewed efforts to get more donors for Platina. “We have given several units to patients under compassionate grounds but we have stopped that now to save stocks for Platina,” Dr Kusum Jashnani, head of pathology.
While Maharashtra has over half a million recovered patients, only 50,000 could be eligible to donate. “Of that 25,000 may be willing to donate and 10,000 could actually materialise,” said Dr Faisal, adding the state needs more people to step up and save critical patients.
The state’s touted Project Platina that was designed to trial convalescent plasma therapy as well as treat selective cases was hindered by a lacklustre response from recovered patients. But thanks to the donations that picked up in August, the state now has over 750 units.
“We have shifted the strategy of calling donors to hospitals to holding camps or collecting blood samples at home for pre-donation checks or at hospitals near their homes. That, combined with growing awareness, has helped us get several donors,” said Dr Mohammed Faisal, state coordinator for Platina.
Around 130 moderately-ill patients have been given plasma outside of the trial on compassionate grounds in Maharashtra from Platina’s overall pool. “In moderate patients, it seemed to help,” Dr Faisal said. On the trial front, over 20 patients have got plasma in government medical colleges of Nagpur, Jalgaon, and Aurangabad, among others. 21 medical colleges across Maharashtra are part of the trial.
Mumbai’s KEM and BYL Nair hospitals will shortly join the trial, which is likely to go on for three months. While Nair got a nod from its institutional ethics committee two days ago, KEM is still awaiting approval. KEM hospital that till the end of July had a paltry stock of 19 units saw a jump in collection after organisers of Lalbaugcha Raja set up a blood and plasma donation camp. Since August 3, the hospital’s blood bank has collected over 160 units.
“One may call it a divine intervention but now we have enough units to conduct the trial. The mandal saw to it that devotees stepped into the camp for checks. We ran some of the pre-donation checks in the camp itself and communicated the names of whoever qualified to donate. They later ferried the donors to the hospital blood bank for the donation,” said Dr Jayashree Sharma, head of transfusion medicine at KEM.
Nair, which had collected nearly 120 units as part of the first plasma trial with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), will now make renewed efforts to get more donors for Platina. “We have given several units to patients under compassionate grounds but we have stopped that now to save stocks for Platina,” Dr Kusum Jashnani, head of pathology.
While Maharashtra has over half a million recovered patients, only 50,000 could be eligible to donate. “Of that 25,000 may be willing to donate and 10,000 could actually materialise,” said Dr Faisal, adding the state needs more people to step up and save critical patients.
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