Plasma most effective if given within first 3 days: GMC dean

PANAJI: Setting straight misconceptions about Convalescent Plasma Therapy (CPT), dean of Goa Medical College Dr S M Bandekar told TOI that though the treatment has proven effective in treating critically ill Covid patients it is very important that it be administered within the golden period — first three days — of moderate symptoms manifesting.

“If a patient is brought as soon as he or she starts showing symptoms of fever, cough, severe body ache or a loss of taste, the chances of recovery are high. Unfortunately, many have come after advancement of the disease. Some even after ten days,” he said.
It is not that plasma cannot be administered to a patient after three days of exhibiting severe symptoms, Bandekar said. “There also is a protocol in place for that, but the therapy to such a patient may not yield favourable results.”
“If given on the fifth day, we tell the patient that his prognosis is bad so that he doesn’t blame the system,” Bandekar said, adding that this is why they are creating awareness about the golden period.
“Please come to us within the golden hours, we will do our best for you.”
Bandekar said many who have come on time have been cured, which is evidence that recovery is possibly.
He gave an example of a woman who was brought to GMC two days ago with full sepsis. “It was too late to do anything to her, and she died the same day,” he said.
“Some patients brought after the disease has advanced to florid pneumonia have died within hours of admission,” he said.
The GMC has launched an aggressive campaign asking recovered Covid patients to come forward to donate plasma. With the increasing patient load the requirement for plasma has gone up. There were about 80 patients in GMC itself on the weekend.
“A patient eligible to receive plasma needs a matching donor, and all this takes time when the number of plasma packs are few,” a senior GMC doctor said.
The GMC needs at least 10 donors a day, but so far only four to five donations are received.
With its plasma donation campaign the GMC is hoping that more donors will come forward.
The state’s tertiary care hospital commissioned facilities for treating high-risk Covid patients from last week.