District collector Daulat Desai on Friday said the first attempt of treating a Covid-19 patient using plasma therapy in Kolhapur’s Chhatrapati Pramilaraje (CPR) hospital has been successful.
The therapy, which was conducted last week, involves using plasma derived from the blood of a coronavirus patient recovered in April to treat another positive patient.
The plasma of the recovered patient contains antibodies that fight Covid-19 infection when injected into the bloodstream of a positive patient.
Claiming the experiment as a huge success, Desai said that the recent patient on whom the therapy was performed tested negative for the test. The test was conducted three days after the therapy. The patient is yet to be discharged from the hospital.
The plasma therapy has been approved by the central government for treating critically-ill patients as well as those with morbid conditions.
The machine to derive plasma from the recovered Covid-19 patient was made available at the CPR hospital. In addition, the recovered patients volunteered to donate blood so that the stock of plasma is maintained.
Doctors at CPR hospital said that many patients, including those suffering from coronavirus, can be treated using plasma therapy, thereby reducing the death count to a great extent.
Varun Bafna, haematologist at CPR hospital said, “We used the plasma of a recovered Covid-19 patient for treating another patient who later tested negative in repeat tests. The patient is currently in sound condition and out of danger. Before the therapy, the patient was critically ill.
Along with plasma therapy, we are also using routine treatment regime to recover the patients. It is a big step for us and we hope to carry out similar attempts in the future.”
