India Govt Stops Plasma Therapy for COVID Patients
Plasma therapy, widely used in hospitals for treating moderate coronavirus patients, has been dropped from the centre's list of COVID-19 treatments.
Plasma Therapy was widely used in hospitals across India for treating moderate coronavirus patients. In this, blood is taken from a person who has recovered from COVID-19. From the blood a yellowish liquid called ‘Plasma’ is extracted. This plasma was then given to the COVID patients. It was believed that it could help treat the infection. Plasma Therapy was part of the list of treatments that were approved by the Central Government. This is why doctors were recommending it across the country. As the dangerous second wave of infections spreads across the country, thousands of patients and their families are writing on social media daily to request for plasma donations. Several politicians, actors and other celebrities have been helping people arrange plasma for their patients. However, Several scientists had written letters to Principal Scientific Advisor K Vijay Raghavan, warning that Plasma Therapy is not scientifically proven to be useful in treatment COVID-19 and must be stopped. The letter also said that the government needs to stop this to prevent harassment of COVID-19 patients, their families, their clinicians and COVID-19 survivors.” After taking all this into consideration, the national Covid task force - which includes senior officials, scientists and top doctors - said Plasma Therapy will be removed from the list of approved treatments as the therapy has been found to be ineffective.
