Good news! A critical Coronavirus patient has shown positive signs after plasma therapy. The 49-year old Delhi-based man tested positive but the recovery rate was extremely low. He got pneumonia and type-1 respiratory failure which worsened his condition and doctors had to put him on the ventilator. Considering that, the family of the patient requested the hospital to proceed with convalescent plasma therapy on him on compassionate grounds. The family itself arranged a donor who recovered from COVID-19. It is important for the plasma donor to have recovered at least two weeks before donation.
The first patient who was administered Plasma Therapy on compassionate grounds at Max Hospital, Saket has shown positive results & was recently weaned off ventilator support. The patient is a 49-year-old, male from Delhi who had tested COVID positive on April 4th: Max Healthcare pic.twitter.com/7QHimVZ4J4
— ANI (@ANI) April 20, 2020
The first patient to receive plasma therapy at the Max Hospital, Saket, Delhi has shown recovery signs. This has brought hope for coronavirus treatment. Patients who have completely recovered from COVID-19 for two weeks or more are encouraged to donate their plasma for the treatment of the critically infected people. This may save a lot of lives.
Before donation, the donor has tested again for Coronavirus as well as other precautionary medical examinations such as HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C. Within four days after plasma therapy, the patients showed improvement signs. He is now showing faster recovery and has been shifted to another room.
Also Read: Does Plasma Therapy Help In COVID-19 Treatment?
Dr. Sandeep Budhiraja, Group Medical Director of Max Healthcare and Senior Director of Institute of Internal Medicine said, “We are delighted that the therapy worked well in his case, opening a new treatment opportunity during these challenging times. But it is important that we also understand that Plasma Therapy is no magic bullet. During the patient’s treatment at Max Hospital, Saket, other standard treatment protocols were followed and we can say that Plasma Therapy could have worked as a Catalyst in speeding up his recovery. We cannot attribute 100% recovery to Plasma Therapy only, as there are multiple factors that carved his path to recovery.”
“In a country like India, a therapy of such kind has a good potential to help COVID patients who have disease severity which fits into moderate to severe category. Government regulations should work towards making it more accessible for hospitals across the country to be able to use it. One donor can donate 400ml of Plasma which can save two lives, as 200ml is sufficient to treat one patient.” he added.
Also Read: First Mobile COVID-19 Testing Van In Central Delhi
The patient is now Coronavirus-free as two consecutive test results have come negative.
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