Chandigarh, June 14, 2020: In the battle against coronavirus, positive news from Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) has given hope to both doctors and patients of coronavirus.
A 60-year-old Kurukshetra resident who was admitted to PGI on June 1 after he was diagnosed with coronavirus, has recovered before time after he underwent convalescent plasma therapy. He was discharged on Friday.
The patient was admitted in serious condition and had pneumonia and needed oxygen therapy.
However, when he was given plasma his condition improved in just three days and he was taken off oxygen therapy.
Talking to Babushahi, Dr Pankaj Malhotra, department of internal medicine, attributed the success to the joint effort of the team handling the case.
“This is very encouraging development in time of gloom. We are happy that this form of treatment worked for the patient,” Dr Malhotra said.
Head of department of transfusion medicine professor Rati Ram Sharma, who played an important role in the therapy, said, “In plasma therapy we take antibodies from cured coronavirus patients and inject them into patients suffering from the disease.”
“Blood is taken from donor and sent to a machine, which separates plasma from blood. The blood minus the plasma is then re-transfused to the donor. The collected plasma is then injected into a coronavirus patient. A donor supplies 300-500 ml of plasma and he can again donate it after 15 days,” Sharma said.
To watch the doctors talking to Babushahi Times, click the following link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VS-P0sxhfOM&feature=youtu.be