LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh on Monday introduced the plasma therapy to treat COVID-19 patients in the state. The King Georges’ Medical University (KGMU) conducted the first transfusion on a government doctor, 54, from Orai. The plasma was extracted from the blood donated by an NRI woman doctor from Canada, the first corona patient of Lucknow.
Both the recipient and donor had matching blood group and this facilitated the doctors to take a quick decision to resort to the therapy on the patient who is now in a critical condition.
As per the KGMU authorities of the medicine department, a patient transfused with 200ml plasma should display a response within 24 hours. If not, a second unit of 200ml plasma would be transfused after 24 hours. The Orai doctor’s condition was extremely critical which led KGMU doctors to conduct the therapy.
“The first case is a patient from Orai who was on oxygen support. Plasma transfusion was done and now he is under observation,” said Dr D Himanshu, senior faculty and infectious disease unit, KGMU.
In fact, the patient is the father of an MBBS student of KGMU. He had a high fever for eight days with difficulty in breathing. He was brought to Lucknow in an
ambulance on Friday and was admitted to ICU.
According to Dr Himanshu, both the man, who is a doctor by profession, and his wife tested positive for the deadly virus on Saturday. While the doctor was critical, his wife was manifesting only mild symptoms. “She has been admitted to the isolation ward,” said Dr Himanshu, in charge. The doctors claimed that the patient might have contracted the virus while treating patients in Orai.
Besides the Canada-based doctor, two other COVID-19 survivors — Dr Tauseef Khan of KGMU and 54-year-old Lakhimpur resident Uma Shankar Pandey — have also donated their plasma for corona treatment. After screening, the plasma is transfused to the patient. Plasma has a shelf life of one year. It is extracted from the blood of the recovered COVID-19 patients who have completed 28-day isolation after getting discharged from the hospital.
Antibodies from COVID-19 survivors reportedly help in treating coronavirus infection.
The NRI’s doctor’s two-year-old son and in-laws were also diagnosed with the virus. While the son recovered, in-laws are still under treatment at Central Command’s base hospital. However, the doctor herself had tested positive on March11and was discharged from the hospital after recovery on March 22.