HCG gets nod from Central for plasma treatment of Covid-19 patients

In a significant development, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (under the Directorate General of Health Services) has granted permission for plasma treatment to Dr. Vishal Rao, HCG Bangalore Institute of Oncology. This has come in response to the state government’s request to allow plasma therapy for treatment of Covid-19 patients.

Karnataka Medical Education Minister Dr.K.Sudhakar has supported the use of plasma therapy to treat Covid-19 patients. He has opined, “Plasma therapy holds great promise in treating Covid-19 patients and I am happy to inform that the Centre has accorded permission. As a doctor, I am confident that plasma therapy will work.”

Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation, in a letter to Dr.Vishal Rao, has granted the permission under the provisions of the New Drugs and Clinical Trial Rules, 2019.

Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute (BMCRI) ethics committee had cleared convalescent plasma therapy for treating critically-ill Covid-19 patients. The therapy will transfuse the antibodies present in a recovered patient’s blood to a patients on ventilator support, which increases chances of the patients’ recovery.