Plasma therapy on COVID-19 patients is a concept that is gaining a lot of traction on social media, however, with it, the question arises, what is blood plasma after all? And why is there so much demand for it? Is this therapy overhyped?
First of all, it is important to know what Plasma is. Plasma is the liquid component present in the blood and it is yellow in colour. A healthy body contains more than 55 percent plasma. It contains hormones, protein, carbon dioxide, and glucose minerals in addition to water. When a patient recovers from coronavirus, the same plasma is offered to the coronavirus victim. This is called Plasma Therapy.
It is believed that if the blood plasma of a patient who has been cured of coronavirus is offered to a sick patient, then the antibodies of the cured patient are transferred to the body of the sick person and they start fighting the virus. Many doctors believe that when the virus hits the body badly and antibodies cannot be formed in that body, then plasma therapy can work in such a time. This is precisely why there is an increase in demand for blood plasma at this time.
Can plasma therapy save the lives of COVID-19 patients?
The answer is no, in most cases. According to a study, out of the total coronavirus patients present in the country, only 10 percent of patients can be given this plasma therapy, but the major thing is that in many pieces of research, it has been revealed that even in these 10 percent cases, plasma therapy is not effective.
In this regard, 18 senior doctors, scientists, and public health professionals of the country have written to the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, K Vijayaraghavan, recommending that there is no evidence of patients recovering from plasma therapy so the government should take strict steps regarding this and ban the therapy.
The opinion of big doctors and scientists is that plasma therapy is not effective in the treatment of coronavirus patients. And it is not just doctors and scientists of India who are saying this.
In Britain, a test was conducted on 11,000 people regarding this subject, but in this test, Plasma Therapy did not show any miracle. The same result occurred when the research was done on it in Argentina. Even there, doctors did not consider this treatment effective.
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a government organization that conducts medical research in India, also researched it last year, in which it was revealed that plasma therapy is not very effective in reducing mortality and treating serious patients of coronavirus.
Though you may be thinking that when this method of treatment is not effective, then why are doctors asking for Plasma?
So the answer is also the ICMR. It has issued necessary guidelines to hospitals across the country for treatment for COVID-19 patients, which details how to treat patients with mild, medium, or severe infections.The guidelines by ICMR say that plasma therapy can be used only on those patients who have slight or moderate symptoms of infection.
And even if this treatment is given to patients, then it can be given within 4 to 7 days of infection.
To sum it up, there is a lack of awareness and information about it. And about this, a key meeting of ICMR took place on Friday, in which the guidelines related to treatment protocols were discussed. We have now received reports that within a day or two, the ICMR may issue new guidelines and coronavirus patients may be prohibited from using plasma therapy.