Plasma therapy can be used in moderate Covid cases, says IMA after new govt guidelines

The govt has revised the clinical guidance for Covid treatment, dropping the off-label use of convalescent plasma as it was not found beneficial.

A recovered Covid-19 patient donates plasma at Delhi's new plasma bank, located at the Institute of Liver & Biliary Sciences, Thursday | Suraj Singh Bisht | ThePrint

New Delhi: Indian Medical Association (IMA) on Tuesday lent its support to plasma therapy in moderate cases of COVID-19 infection and said such patients may need less oxygen with the use of plasma.

The approval for plasma therapy from the IMA comes a day after Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)’s National Task Force (NTF) had dropped use of convalescent plasma therapy from COVID-19 treatment protocol. “What the IMA is saying is that it (plasma therapy) has been removed as an ‘off label’ use. But it is a clinical step that in moderate cases where oxygen saturation is low, the patient may need less oxygen to stabilise or saturate the oxygen level with the use of plasma,” Dr Anil Goel, finance secretary IMA and urologist, told ANI.

“The use of plasma is being put to use with the consent of patients and attendants,” Dr Goel added.

He further said that the high death rate is because the patients are going to hospitals very late, especially those who are in home quarantine.

“I advise them to see a chest specialist at some COVID hospital regularly for their better and early treatment,” Dr Goel added.

On Monday, the use of convalescent plasma was dropped from the recommended treatment protocols for COVID-19.

On May 14, a meeting of the ICMR-National Task Force for Covid-19 was held during which its ‘ineffectiveness’ in a number of cases was discussed.