Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday said that the limited trial of plasma therapy on patients at a city hospital was “encouraging”. He also appealed to the recovered COVID-19 patients to step forward and donate their plasma to save the lives of serious patients.
Two of the four patients on whom the trial was conducted at Lok Nayak Hospital would be shifted out of intensive care three days after the therapy, he said.
He also said that Delhi government would seek permission from the Centre to use plasma therapy on all serious patients based on the next trial.
“Our efforts in the fight against the virus are two-fold. First is how to contain the spread of COVID-19, which includes social distancing, lockdown and various other measures, and the second is how to control the deaths caused by the pandemic... We got permission to conduct the trial on patients admitted at LNJP Hospital and we have tried the therapy on four patients. The results are satisfactory. We have Dr. Sarin, who is the head of ILBS hospital, to monitor the whole project,” the Chief Minister said.
Dr. S.K. Sarin said, the initial plan was to use plasma therapy as per the age-old tradition used in 1900s. If the therapy was used on a patient in the second stage of infection, which is the pulmonary phase (affecting the lungs and causes difficulty in breathing), it was possible to neutralise the virus as well as stop organ failure.
The main aim of therapy, he said, was to not let any infected person reach the third stage, which is called the ‘cytokine storm’, and cure their lung infection. Only the people who have recovered from COVID-19 will have to give their blood.
‘Show patriotism’
“We need people to show their patriotism by donating blood so the others can be treated. We have people who lost their lives because we did not get blood from anywhere... Plasma is extracted from the blood of the person who has recovered and the rest of the blood goes back into their body,” he said.
“Donating blood is also good for your longevity and you feel young as new blood is developed... Plasma therapy is also inexpensive as compared to other medical treatments and medicines that our country cannot afford to import,” Dr. Sarin said.
‘Excellent results’
According to Mr. Kejriwal, plasma transplant on two out of four patients was done on Tuesday.
Their respiratory rates and oxygen saturation levels had improved. While the first two patients would be discharged from the ICU, the remaining two had also shown excellent results.
“We had got the permission for limited trials from the Central government. They had permitted us to conduct the trial on a few patients admitted to LNJP Hospital and then notify them based on their success for further trials. This has come as a ray of hope to us, and doctors are trying their best to save the lives of the patients,” the Chief Minister said. ”It is the responsibility of the people, who have recovered, to come forward and help those who are recovering. You will be saving lives,” he added.
