Nitish govt planning plasma therapy for Covid patients: Bihar's principal health secretary

In a major development on Saturday, Sanjay Kumar, principal health secretary of Bihar has told news agency ANI that the Nitish Kumar led government is planning for plasma therapy at AIIMS Patna. As per his update, Bihar has reported a total of 225 COVID cases, 46 have recovered/ migrated so far and 2 deaths have been reported. 

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Plasma Therapy involves transfusion of blood from an individual who has recovered from Coronavirus to a patient battling the virus, assuming that the blood of the recovered person might have developed antibodies to fight the virus. Even though plasma therapy has not been recognised as a concrete treatment for the deadly virus, the therapy has shown effective results. ICMR had first allowed Kerala to carry out therapy results and then Delhi where a 49-year-old male had shown positive results after receiving the treatment and was weaned off ventilator support.

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The Indian Council of Medical Research also allowed the Maharashtra government to try Plasma Therapy on COVID-19 patients in Mumbai. Karnataka Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar on April 24 said that the state is also likely to start Convalescent Plasma Therapy for COVID-19 patients, who are critical.

Clarification by AIIMS director

Meanwhile, on Friday, All India Institue of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Director Randeep Guleria highlighted that the Plasma Therapy - used to treat COVID-19 patients - is just a form of treatment and should not be looked at as 'magic bullets.' Plasma Therapy has been touted as a potential treatment for the deadly disease. The AIIMS Director also clarified that the therapy is just a 'treatment strategy' and it is not sure that the therapy will be effective in every case. 

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