HYDERABAD: The first batch of blood donation for the much-awaited plasma therapy was conducted at Gandhi Hospital on Monday, with two of the selected 15 Covid-19 recovered patients giving blood.“This is a time-consuming process as it is not a usual blood donation procedure. It takes close to two-and-half hours; the plasma has to be separated from the blood, which is why we can only perform the procedure on three to four people a day,” Dr Raja Rao, Superintendent of Gandhi Hospital, told Express.
Akhil, one of the earliest recovered patients, was the first to donate blood. “When we were admitted to Gandhi Hospital, we didn’t even know if we would return home alive. But we got cured. We would like to give this hope to thousands of people who are suffering. Donating plasma, to me, is just a call of duty. This is the least we can do,” he said.
The recipients of plasma therapy would be identified and decided by ICMR, Dr Rao said. “From what we assume, moderate to severely affected patients will be selected. We will have to provide all the patients’ details to ICMR as there are multiple parameters that need to be covered. This is a research-cum-treatment procedure,” he said.
ICMR would divide the patients into two groups — control and experimental. One group will be given plasma therapy and the other the normal symptomatic treatment which is currently being provided. “This will help us understand the results of plasma therapy in comparison with the current treatment,” he said. “But, the procedure will be dynamic because a moderately severe patient can become a mild or a very severe case too. Then he/she cannot be part of the experimental treatment. Recipients may also keep changing,” Dr Rao said.