First COVID-19 patient to receive plasma therapy recovered
The first 49-year-old male COVID-19 patient who received Plasma Therapy at Max Hospital, Saket, Delhi has shown positive results with significant development in his health condition and ventilator support was taken off. The patient hospitalized on 4 April 2020.
He was put on ventilator support on 8 April, as his health condition deteriorated after a couple of days of his hospitalization, and he had developed pneumonia with type I respiratory failure.
Officials said, when the patient showed no improvement, his family requested the medical facility for carrying out plasma treatment.
The donor for extracting plasma was arranged by the family members. The plasma donor was recuperated from the coronavirus infection. He was tested negative in 2 successive tests performed 3 weeks earlier and was tested at the time of donation also, which too resulted negative for COVID-19. Additionally, various other common tests were also carried out to detect infections like HIV, Hep B, and Hep C.
As per officials, on the night of 14 April, the patient was given fresh plasma as a therapy modality.
He started showed progressive improvement after obtaining the treatment and was weaned off ventilator support by day
four, and supplementary oxygen was provided after that. On Sunday the patient was shifted to a room with round-the-clock monitoring and he has started taking oral food and he is doing well.“Opening up a new treatment opportunity during these difficult times, we are delighted that the treatment worked well in his case. However, it is essential that we additionally know that Plasma treatment is not a magic bullet,” said Dr. Sandeep Budhiraja, Director at the Institute of Internal Medicine, Max Hospital.
He added, “Throughout the person’s treatment, various other standard treatments were also given and we can claim that Plasma treatment has helped as a stimulant in quickening his recovery. 100% credits of recuperation can’t be given to plasma therapy only, as there are multiple aspects that have helped him to recover. To treat one individual 200 ml of plasma is enough and a single donor can donate up to 400 ml which can save 2 lives.
He added, “Such treatment has an excellent possibility to help COVID-19 patients who have disease severity which fits into modest to a serious category in a nation like India. The government should function towards making it a lot more easily accessible for medical facilities throughout the nation.
As per a doctor, 2 consecutive COVID-19 test of the patient has come negative.
Author: Sruthi S
