Many city doctors say administering plasma in early stages does help, and hospitals stress they will continue collection
A few doctors said ICMR used old data to form its decision. Representation pic
Days after ICMR dropped plasma therapy from Covid-19 treatment guidelines, some city doctors have insisted that the therapy works well if given within 72 hours. They say plasma is useful for patients with low immunity as they can’t be given drugs like Remdesivir.
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Dr Om Shrivastav said he has used plasma in at least 100 cases and 94 of them have done well
The announcement by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) had prompted many to wonder if they could donate plasma. However, a few top private hospitals said that they would continue to accept plasma.
Dr Om Shrivastav, an infectious disease expert and a member of the state Covid-19 task force, said, “Plasma therapy has shown to be lifesaving in the early part of the infection. The ICMR should look at fresh trials rather than going back to last year’s data.” He said he has used plasma therapy on at least 100 patients and 94 of them have done well.
Also Read: India drops plasma therapy from Covid-19 management guidelines
While ICMR says plasma therapy can be used in emergency cases, doctors say a delayed usage of plasma doesn’t work and should continue to be used in the mainstream.
Dr Arpita Dwivedy, a critical care consultant at Dr LH Hiranandani Hospital, said they had encouraging results from plasma therapy at the early stage of infection during the first wave. “This time, most of our patients have taken vaccines and have a good amount of antibodies. Patients whose antibody levels are not high, I do give them plasma therapy. In the very critically ill, I don’t think anything works,” Dr D wivedy said.
Dr Vasant Nagvekar, an infectious disease expert at Global and Lilavati hospitals, said he will continue to use plasma on those with “haematological malignancies”, transplant patients who are on immunosuppressants or have kidney or liver diseases.
Dr Rahul Pandit, an intensivist at Fortis Hospital and a member of the Covid-19 task force, said he hasn’t used a single bag of plasma in this pandemic. “The window period to use plasma is essentially between two or three days and by that time no patient is in the hospital,” he said.
Sir HN Reliance Hospital, one of the private centres authorised to collect plasma, said it will continue collecting plasma. “It is the ICMR’s decision but the FDA hasn’t stopped it. We are seeing the benefits of plasma therapy,” said a doctor.
Dr Sujit Chatterjee, CEO of Powai Hiranandani hospital, added, “FDA has no information. We will use it till we receive some official order. Right now it is a mere
press report.”
Was quality a concern?
Dr Khusrav Bajan, intensivist from PD Hinduja Hospital, though welcomed the ICMR decision, he questioned the quality of plasma used in initial days. “You need plasma which has a very high neutralising antibody level and that probably in the initial days was not used.” Dr Bhajan said plasma is still good in select cases.
Therapy discontinued
Dr Kedar Toraskar, a critical care specialist at Wockhardt Hospital, said they have stopped using plasma therapy for the last three months. “We have to go with data. We have done enough studies including the ICMR and recovery trail report that clearly says plasma therapy doesn’t help,” he said, agreeing with its use on those who come early to the hospital.
Dr Anant Bhan, a global health and bioethics researcher, said, “We must follow the evidence. We should focus on interventions for which evidence of benefit exists.”
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