BENGALURU: Karnataka will start Convalescent Plasma Therapy for COVID-19 patients who are critical, from Saturday. Health Minister B Sriramulu tweeted on Friday that the Phase-1 clinical trials will begin with Victoria Hospital taking the lead by trying it on its patients on Saturday. In early April, Karnataka began preparing to conduct plasma therapy, which involves using antibody-rich plasma from patients who have recovered from COVID-19 and infusing it in the blood of a patient suffering from Coronavirus.
When a person is infected with the virus, their immune system develops antibodies to fight the virus. This technique has been used in countries like South Korea, the US, China and also in Delhi, Gujarat and Maharashtra. “We are determined to vanquish the enemy of mankind. Karnataka will lead the way. Minister Sudhakar will be there with me as we make this historic move,” he said in that tweet.
On April 21, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) allowed a private hospital in Bengaluru to conduct convalescent plasma therapy trials on COVID-19 patients under the provisions of the New Drugs and Clinical Trial Rules, 2019.
Ramanagara closest to city: DG-Prisons
“The objective was to put them under quarantine in an exclusive place. Ramanagara district prison is around 50 km from Bengaluru and is closest to the City. We, therefore, decided to transfer 170 prisoners back to Bengaluru and lodged them Padarayanapura people there,” Alok Mohan said.
On Thursday night, the jail staff had expressed their dissatisfaction over the government’s move of shifting the Padarayanapura accused to Ramanagara jail. When Ramanagar MLA and former Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy visited the jail on Friday, some of them met him and requested that if they are quarantined, arrangements should be made to home-quarantine them.
Speaking to reporters, Kumaraswamy criticised the government for bringing Padarayanapura accused to Ramanagar despite his request not to bring them. “It appears that the government has not understood the seriousness of the issue. Who will take the blame if more cases are reported in Ramanagara due to this,” he questioned. The prisons department under the Supreme Court direction has released 1,200 prisoners from prisons across the state on interim bail or parole to decongest the prisons.
On March 23, the apex court had asked states and the Union Territories to consider release of undertrial prisoners and convicts charged or convicted for crimes, where maximum punishment is less than seven years, with or without fine, to decongest the prisons amid the pandemic.