Health experts have welcomed the Delhi Government’s decision to set up a plasma bank, a first in the country, saying that for the treatment of Covid-19 patients, plasma therapy may be still in the experimental phase but there have been encouraging results.

Moreover, given that, at present,there is no other sure shot treatment against the virus that has infected over 80,000 in the city, experimenting with plasma therapy is a good move, they said. The doctors also  suggested setting up an online registry that connects donors and recipients infected with Covid-19 seeking the blood component.

“Almost all the countries have established a Plasma registry with a database having details about addresseses and phone numbers of the Covid-19 survivors. They can be contacted whenever required,” said Dr Rahul Bhargava, Director and Head, Haematology and Bone Marrow Transplant, Fortis Memorial Research Institute, Gurugram.

He advised that plasma registry should also have a detail of the anti-body titre of each Covid-recovered patient.

“The antibody titer is a test that detects the presence and measures the amount of antibodies within a person”s blood. The amount and diversity of antibodies correlates to the strength of the body”s immune response,” he explained.

 The donors have to be free of Covid-19 for at least 28 days if the disease was serious or at least 14 days if it was mild. The blood types of the donor and the recipient have to be the same.

Dr Nita Radhakrishnan, Assistant Professor at Department of Pediatric Hematology Oncology,

Super Speciality Pediatric Hospital and PG Teaching Institute, Noida too felt that even though trials of plasma therapy were still in experimental stage,  experimenting with such move (setting up plasma bank) is no harm when there is no treatment option and the Covid-19 scenario is deteriorating across the country.

In many States like Rajasthan and Maharashtra the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a health research wing of the Ministry, is already conducting trial for plasma therapy and once the results are out than only we will be able to tell whether or not it is successful.

She added that plasma therapy has been found to be useful in patients reporting respiratory complications. However, it may not be helpful in other complications like thromobosis where clotting is formed in lungs, she warned.

In the US, an NGO Sewa International has already set up a programme for Covid-19 survivors to donate their blood plasma for a therapy to save severely ill patients with respiratory failure.

Sewa President Sree Sreenath said that the organisation is working with partners in India to create a registry there since the ICMR is allowing clinical trials of the therapy.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday announced setting up of the “plasma bank” at the Delhi government-run Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences and doctors or hospitals will have to approach it for plasma if a Covid-19 patient needs the same.

Kejriwal said that his government has so far conducted a clinical trial of plasma therapy on 29 Covid-19 patients and the result was “encouraging”.

Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain, who had tested positive for the virus, was administrated plasma therapy. He has now recovered.

 Malini Asola, the co-convenor of the All India Drug Action Network however felt that the Delhi Government”s response has been quite late. “The Government   literally watched while the private hospital MaxHealthcare  became the main hub for plasma therapy, to the extent that the State Health Minister SatyendarJain, had to go to Max as well. The Chief Minister  stepped aside to let this hospital set up its plasma bank before announcing a Government bank,” she said.

In the coronavirus plasma therapy, blood plasma containing the antibodies created to fight the virus is taken from Covid-recovered  person and inject it into a person suffering from the disease so that the antibodies can help fight the disease.