'Harmful And Illegal': Health Ministry Cautions Against Use of Plasma Therapy As Covid-19 Treatment

Convalescent Plasma Therapy is an experimental procedure for Covid-19 patients. In this treatment, plasma, a blood component, from a cured patient is transfused to a critically ill Coronavirus patient.

Convalescent Plasma Therapy is an experimental procedure for Covid-19 patients.

New Delhi: Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Tuesday said that Plasma Therapy is being experimented with, but there is no evidence this can be used as a treatment for Coronavirus. While addressing a daily press conference on Covid-19 updates, Luv Agarwal, Join Secretary of Health Ministry also said that a national-level study has been launched by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to study the efficacy of Plasma Therapy treatment. "Plasma Therapy is not a proven therapy. It is still in experimental stage, right now even ICMR is doing it as an experiment to identify and do additional understanding of this therapy. Till it is approved no one should use it, it will be harmful to patient and illegal," Agarwal said.

There can even be life-threatening complications if #PlasmaTherapy is not used as per guidelines. Until and unless this is approved as a therapy for #COVID19, it is unjustified to spread any claim about the effectiveness of this therapy. - @MoHFW_INDIA 2/2https://t.co/SOv6C016jM

— PIB India #StayHome #StaySafe (@PIB_India) April 28, 2020

Convalescent Plasma Therapy is an experimental procedure for Covid-19 patients. In this treatment, plasma, a blood component, from a cured patient is transfused to a critically ill Coronavirus patient. The blood of a person who has recovered from Covid-19 develops antibodies to fight the virus. This therapy uses antibodies from the blood of a cured coronavirus patient to treat another critical patient. Until ICMR concludes its study and a robust scientific proof is available, Agarwal said that the Plasma therapy should be used only for research or trial purpose. WATCH REPORT | Health Ministry Says, "Plasma Therapy Isn't Proven, Still In Experimental Stage" However, Agarwal also pointed out that if Plasma Therapy is not used in proper manner under proper guideline then it can also cause life-threatening complications. ICMR has recently allowed states to start clinical trials of plasma therapy. Many states like Kerala, Gujarat and Punjab have already started using it for treatment of Coronavirus patients. Several other countries, including the United Kingdom and the United States, have also started Plasma Therapy trials. The idea behind this therapy is that immunity can be transferred from a healthy person to a sick patient using convalescent plasma. Once the blood plasma of the recovered patient is infused with that of the second patient, the antibodies start fighting against Coronavirus in the second person's body. The process of donating plasma is similar to that of donating blood and takes about an hour.