ISLAMABAD: Federal government on Tuesday decided to expand the procedure of treating COVID-19 patients using plasma therapy to across the country, ARY NEWS reported.
It was agreed after a meeting between National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Chairman Lieutenant General Muhammad Afzal and National Institute of Blood Diseases (NIBD) head Dr Tahir Shamsi, who first proposed the treatment in the country.
The two discussed the prospects of using plasma therapy to treat COVID-19 patients across Pakistan and also reviewed the facilities needed to conduct passive immunization therapy.
The NDMA chairman assured that the federal institution would arrange facilities for expanding the sphere of treatment using plasma therapy across Pakistan.
It was also decided to launch a special helpline for those volunteering to donate their plasma after recovering from COVID-19.
“Names of those donating plasma will be withheld,” announced the NDMA chairman while appealing recovered patients to show up in large numbers in order to save other precious lives.
It is pertinent to mention here that the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) had allowed clinical trials of blood plasma therapy to treat coronavirus patients in the country.
Plasma, the fluid in blood teeming with antibodies post-illness, has already proven effective in small studies to treat infectious diseases including Ebola and SARS.
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Many COVID-19 patients in Pakistan have recovered from this process.
Dr Shamsi, who had proposed the treatment of coronavirus patients through passive immunisation, had termed plasma donation to COVID-19 patient as a safe and secure procedure.
It must be noted that the plasma immunisation is being used in many countries by using blood donated by recovered patients for introducing anti-bodies in those COVID-19 patients receiving treatment.
The therapy can also be used to immunise the people at high risk of contracting the virus including health professionals, families of patients and others.
The plasma immunisation procedure was also approved by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
