COVID-19: Pioneering Plasma Therapy Saves Kerala Patient on Ventilator

KOCHI:
Kerala crossed a milestone in its globally-acclaimed treatment of COVID-19, as the Government Medical College (GMC) in Thrissur rescued a critically ill patient by employing antibodies of a person cured of the novel coronavirus.

Called convalescent plasma collection, the therapy benefited a ventilator-supported 51-year-old man suffering from COVID-19. It was the first instance of use of such a life-saving remedy in the state, authorities said today. The therapy banked on the technique of apheresis that is performed outside the body and facilitates the donor’s blood to pass through an apparatus which separates out the plasma. The remainder returns to the donor’s circulation.

The procedure, which is followed by infusing the required quantity of plasma into the patient’s vein, started on Thursday night and was over in by early Friday morning, according to Dr. M.A. Andrews, principal of the 1982-founded GMC near Mulangunnathukavu, 10 km north of Thrissur city.

The therapy was carried out by the personnel of the GMC’s departments of medicine, transfusion medicine and anaesthesia. The donor, Davis Antony, volunteered to donate plasma, revealed the GMC principal. “We appreciate the gesture and hope that more such volunteers will approach us in the nation’s fight against COVID-19,” Dr Andrews added.

The apheresis machine at GMC, Thrissur, was installed in May. “It enables donation of just one component of the blood. The donor can repeat the act after 48 hours,” a senior official with the GMC’s Blood Bank said.