The Karnataka health department has been successful in treating two patients suffering from COVID-19 by using convalescent plasma therapy till date. These are the second and third patients to undergo plasma therapy in the state. The first patient who had undergone plasma treatment at Victoria Hospital in Bengaluru had succumbed to his comorbidities on May 14.
Medical Education Department Minister K Sudhakar tweeted about the development. He said, “Karnataka achieves yet another significant landmark in fight against COVID19. After KIMS (Kempegowda Institute of Medical Sciences) Hubballi, BMCRI (Victoria Hospital) becomes the second hospital to successfully treat Corona patients with plasma therapy. Congrats to all doctors & staff of BMC for this success!”
The plasma therapy treatment was administered at the Victoria Hospital in collaboration with HCG Global Cancer hospital, which was one of the first hospitals in the country to get the Centre’s nod to conduct clinical trials for this experimental treatment method.
On Friday, authorities at the Victoria Hospital in Bengaluru confirmed a second patient that they treated with plasma therapy has recovered well and is likely to be discharged in the coming days.
Dr Jayanthi, Director of Victoria Hospital, speaking on behalf of the team of doctors, said, “The second plasma therapy patient is stable and has been shifted out of the ICU (intensive care unit). This 38-year-old female patient was admitted to the Victoria hospital ICU with severe illness. She was also a diabetic with poor sugar control. She was put on high flow nasal oxygen, antibiotics and COVID-19 treatment as per protocol. She received convalescent plasma therapy on May 27. Since then there has been a steady improvement in her condition resulting in her being weaned off high flow nasal oxygen on June 2 “
She added, “She was shifted from the ICU to the ward on June 4 and is presently on 2 litres per minute oxygen. This significant improvement in her clinical condition is reassuring and encouraging. We are closely monitoring her and hope to see her recover completely and go home.”
This development came after doctors at the Karnataka Institute of Medical Science (KIMS), Hubballi, were successful in treating a 64-year-old COVID-19 patient with plasma therapy on Tuesday. That patient is at present without oxygen support, doctors said.
Earlier, doctors involved with this have explained that the treatment involves injecting plasma of recovered patients to COVID-19 patients who are at a critical stage, requiring ventilator support or artificial oxygen supply. The therapy has been successful in the past during the fight against ebola and the Spanish flu as well.