Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Thursday said that the government will continue to use convalescent plasma therapy for severely-ill coronavirus patients, NDTV reported. His remark came a day after a study funded by the Indian Council of Medical Research showed that the procedure does not help reduce the risk of death or slow down the progress of the infection.
Jain added that the procedure had helped him recover from Covid-19 in June. Convalescent plasma therapy, an experimental treatment for severe cases of the coronavirus, involves giving the blood plasma of an individual who has recovered from the infection to a patient in serious condition. The antibodies in the recovered person’s plasma are expected to improve the condition of the patient requiring treatment.
“The ICMR study does not say there are no benefits of plasma therapy, it says CPT may not be effective for a patient on ventilator,” Jain told the news channel. “Even after a Covid patient reaches the ICU [intensive care unit] there are three stages of recovery. We are also saying that plasma therapy does not benefit those at stage 3 of the disease. But it helps those in stages 1 and 2.”
Jain added: “More than 1,000 Covid patients have been given plasma in Delhi and most of them benefitted; their lives were saved. I know, I have recovered.”
Read today’s top 10 coronavirus updates.
Follow live updates on the coronavirus here.
The “open-label parallel-arm phase II multicentre randomised controlled” or PLACID trial was conducted across 39 public and private hospitals between April 22 and July 14 to ascertain the effectiveness of plasma therapy. The study was published in MedRxiv, a pre-print for health sciences, on September 8. An unidentified ICMR official told The Indian Express that the study has not been peer-reviewed yet and refused to comment on it.
The study was done on 464 patients, who were hospitalised with moderate symptoms. Of the total number of patients, 235 were given convalescent plasma along with best of standard care while 229 got only standard care, as per the study. The patients in the intervention arm received two 200-millilitre doses of convalescent plasma, administered 24 hours apart. “The PLACID trial results indicate that there was no difference in 28-day mortality or progression to severe disease among moderately ill Covid-19 patients treated with CP [convalescent plasma] along with BSC [best of standard care] compared to BSC alone,” the study said.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has also supported plasma therapy as a treatment for the coronavirus. In June, he had launched a plasma bank in the Capital to facilitate donation.
On Wednesday, Delhi registered a record 4,039 new cases, taking its tally to 2,01,174. The Capital’s toll rose by 20 to 4,638.
Limited-time offer: Big stories, small price. Keep independent media alive. Become a Scroll member today!
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!