New Delhi, April 15: Delhi is all set to use plasma technique on a trial basis for treatment to save lives of critically ill COVID-19 patients. According to a latest announcement by Lt Governor Anil Baijal, medical staff dealing with coronavirus patients are advised all to strictly adhere to SOPs/guidelines & protocols issued by Union Health Ministry. In plasma therapy, antibodies from the blood of cured patients are used to treat critically ill COVID-19 cases. Also known as convalescent plasma, the therapy refers to using plasma from patients who have recovered from the deadly coronavirus disease.

According to reports, several studies have started in different parts of the world to test effectiveness of convalescent plasma therapy in treating COVID-19 patients. The idea of this therapy is that immunity can be transferred from a healthy person to a sick person by using convalescent plasma. India in Final Stages of Framing Protocols for Clinical Trial of Plasma Therapy, Says ICMR.

Here'e the Tweet:

Plasma Therapy

In plasma therapy, blood is drawn from a person who has recovered from the disease and the serum is separated and screened for virus-neutralising antibodies. When attacked by a pathogen, our immune systems produce antibodies and in this therapy these antibodies from recovered patients are used to treat other sick people.

Here's How Plasma Technique Works

Anoopkumar a member of the task force said this process is done first by conducting a blood test on a coronavirus positive patient who has turned negative.

A positive patient after turning negative has to undergo two tests to further clarify that it's negative. Then after 14 days, the blood is tested to find the antibody presence. If it's above a certain level and the person is above 55 kilograms in weight, then 800 ml of plasma is separated and it's further split into 4 parts. Of this 200 ml is used to treat a patient whose condition is just turning serious.

Kerala was the first state in India to commence convalescent plasma therapy. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on April 9 gave its nod to Kerala for the first of its kind project, initiated by the prestigious Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST), a top official said.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 15, 2020 07:12 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).