Mumbai: The Maharashtra government on Wednesday confirmed that the first plasma therapy has been successfully done at Lilavati Hospital. That makes it the second state after Delhi to do so. The inspiring news came a day after the Union Health Ministry sounded a note of caution, saying that plasma therapy was still in trial stage and could lead to life-threatening complications.
Unfazed, Public Health Minister Rajesh Tope said soon it would be tried at Nair Hospital, and subsequently, extended to other parts of the state.
The FPJ last Friday broke the story that the Centre has given approval to the state government to conduct plasma therapy which is an experimental procedure for COVID 19 patients. In this treatment, plasma, a blood component, from a cured COVID patient is transfused into a critically ill patient.
The concept behind the therapy is that the plasma of a patient who has recovered from corona contains antibodies with the specific ability to fight the lethal virus.
Under pressure from certain quarters, the Indian Council of Medical Research, too, indicated on Wednesday that it will soon conduct a study on the efficacy of plasma therapy involving 450 people.