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Fading hopes that plasma therapy is a cure for treating coronavirus patients, the first patient to receive the experimental treatment in Uttar Pradesh died after a heart attack on Saturday. The patient, a 58-year-old doctor, was admitted to King George’s University of Medicine (KGMU) in Lucknow.
The disappointing news comes after the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) received approval for the second phase of the multicentre plasma therapy clinical trial.
Convalescent plasma therapy is an experimental procedure for the treatment of patients with COVID-19. In this treatment, plasma, a blood component, from a healed patient is transfused into a seriously ill coronavirus patient. The blood of a person who has recovered from COVID-19 develops antibodies to fight the virus. This therapy uses antibodies from the blood of a cured patient to treat another critically ill patient.
The Union health ministry had advised against considering the therapy to be a regular treatment for conronavirus, adding that it should be used for research and trial purposes until there is solid scientific evidence to support its efficacy.
The Lucknow doctor, who had been on the ventilator for the past 14 days, and his wife were admitted earlier after they tested positive for COVID-19.
According to the KGMU administration, after plasma therapy, the doctor’s lungs had improved, but then he developed a urinary tract infection and was treated for it. Two reports of his samples came out negative for COVID-19, he added.
The administration further reported that the report from the doctor’s wife was also negative and that she will be released soon.
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