New Delhi: Delhi Government has got the Centre’s approval to carryout clinical trials of Plasma Therapy in the city to help critically ill Covid- 19 patients, said Delhi Chief Minister Aravind Kejriwal.

Speaking to the media persons he said that the Plasma Therapy is meant only for Covid-19 patients who are on ventilator support and critical. Multi-Centre trials were expected to begin for this, after clearance from the Drug Controller of India. He also said that the Government will begin in the next three or four days “Trial of Plasma Enrichment technique in Delhi. If successful, we can save the lives of serious Covid-19 patients”, he added.

Plasma Therapy involves transfusion of plasma from a convalescent Covid- 19 patient to a critical patient. The blood of a convalescent patient is rich in antibodies that are expected to help the critical patient recover, he explained. The donor has to be a patient who has recovered, showed multiple negative testing and showed no symptoms after 14 days of isolation, he added.
The ICMR the nodal body of Covid- 19 testing has asked institutions from across the country to participate in the clinical trials to assess the plasma treatment using their protocols.

But the trials needed permission from the Drug Control authority since conducting it involves relaxation in blood donation norms. Delhi so far has 1,578 cases of Covid- 19, 32 patients have died and 42 have recovered.