Plasma therapy could be dangerous and is not yet approved, says centre

The Union health ministry on Tuesday prompted against considering the plasma treatment to be a standard treatment for coronavirus and urged that it should just be utilized for research and preliminary purposes till there’s robust scientific proof to prove its viability.

There is no endorsed treatment for Covid-19 in the nation including Plasma treatment. Plasma treatment is being explored in different avenues and still there is no proof to help it as a treatment.

It is just at a testing stage and if not administered appropriately, it could be dangerous to life ,” said Lav Agarwal, joint secretary health ministry.

The health ministry official said that the nation’s top clinical research body was leading an investigation to discover the viability of plasma treatment and till then, specialists are informed to utilize it just for preliminary purposes.

“Plasma treatment is just to be used for research and preliminary purposes until an ICMR study on its efficacy is finished. ICMR is directing a research across the nation to examine the viability of Plasma treatment,” he said.

Use of plasma therapy involves injecting blood-component plasma extracted from a recovered coronavirus patient into a positive corona patient.

The plasma of a cured patient is considered to hold virus-fighting antibodies, which boost the immune system’s response to the disease. ‘

Although cases from Mumbai and Delhi have shown significant improvements in people who received plasma therapy, health ministry hasn’t officially announced any approval.