Congress asks TS Govt to scale up plasma therapy: Gudur
Narayana Reddy, who has just recovered from Covid-19, said that the trials of plasma therapy conducted last month were reportedly successful with many critical patients getting recovered from Corona virus. He said that the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has approved 38 institutions for participating in a randomised controlled study to assess the safety and efficacy of convalescent plasma to limit complications associated with Covid-19. He said the ESIC and Gandhi Medical College were among the institutions which had ICMR approval to conduct plasma therapy trials.
However, he said that the authorities were not finding enough plasma donors. Therefore, he said that the authorities should constitute a team of expert counselors to convince recovered patients to donate their plasma.
Narayana Reddy pointed out that a critically ill Covid-19 patient from Hyderabad has fully recovered after receiving the convalescent plasma therapy approved by the ICMR. Trials were started on May 11 and the patient recovered in 10 days. Two units of plasma is required for each patient and therefore, two donors are needed to treat one critically ill-patient.
Since he has just recovered from Covid-19, Narayana Reddy announced that he was ready to donate plasma if he fulfills the eligibility criteria set by the ICMR and other authorities.
“As on June 24, a total of 4,361 people in Telangana have recovered from Covid-19. Therefore, if approved by the ICMR , all critically ill patients in Telangana can undergo plasma therapy as it will not be a difficult task for the government to mobilise 600 eligible donors for nearly 300 critically ill patients,” he said.
Further, Narayana Reddy urged the Central Government to provide required assistance to the Telangana Government in handling the Corona virus situation. “Instead of targeting Telangana Government’s failures for political gains, the Central Government should take measures to plug the loopholes so as to save lives of common people,” he said.
