Plasma therapy trials begin at Victoria
Effective in Covid cases: Minister
BENGALURU:
Karnataka Medical Education Minister Dr. K.Sudhakar along with Health and Family Welfare Minister Sriramulu inaugurated the clinical trials of convalescent plasma therapy at Victoria Hospital here on Saturday.Victoria Hospital Dean Dr.C.R.Jayanti, Dr. Vishal Rao of Bangalore Institute of Oncology – who was given permission for the trials by the Centre — and Principal of BMCRI Dr.Ramesh were present.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Sudhakar said, “This is a historic moment for the state. I am confident that plasma therapy helps serious Covid-19 affected patients to recover. I have always maintained that plasma treatment is very effective for such patients. We were able to commence trials in just 3-4 days after receiving permission from the Centre.”
‘Donate plasma’
Dr Sudhakar thanked the person who had recovered from Covid-19 for donating plasma and appealed to other recovered patients to do so.
The minister said trials for treatment of patients on ventilators would start next week.
The Directorate of Public Health under the Union Government recently accorded permission for using plasma therapy for the treatment of Covid-19 patients in Karnataka. Dr.Vishal Rao of Bangalore Institute of Oncology was given permission to conduct clinical trials. Plasma therapy has been effectively used in the past during the Ebola outbreak.
In this treatment, plasma cells from a Covid-19 patient who has recovered are transfused into a coronavirus patient.
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