Chandigarh: For the first time in Punjab, the state government has decided to support the medical team of SPS Apollo Hospital in Ludhiana to conduct plasma therapy on Ludhiana’s Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Anil Kohli, 52, who has tested positive for coronavirus a few days ago.
An official spokesperson of the government confirmed this in a statement after Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh reviewed the Covid-19 situation in the state via video-conference.
The treatment includes injecting patients with plasma from people who have recovered from the infection, and whose bodies have, therefore, generated the antibodies required to fight the virus.
So far, Punjab has 211 positive cases, of which 15 have died, according to the government’s bulletin. A total of 30 people have been discharged so far.
The state continues to be among the top in the country in terms of fatalities, raising eyebrows over the treatment protocols being followed to treat Covid-19 patients.
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Collaboration between govt & pvt hospital
The family of the ACP, who is admitted in the Apollo hospital and is on ventilator for the past several days, has given permission for the plasma therapy, for which the director of health services is coordinating efforts to get potential plasma donors.
On Thursday, Max Hospital in New Delhi started the plasma treatment on a Covid-19 patient on ventilator. His father had already succumbed to the disease.
The therapy is being arranged by Punjab government’s health adviser Dr K.K. Talwar, who is also the former director of PGIMER.
On Talwar’s request, Dr Neelam Marwaha, former head of department, blood transfusion at PGI, has agreed to guide the efforts for plasma therapy, the spokesperson said.
Dr Raj Bahadur, vice-chancellor of Baba Farid University for Medical Sciences, said that currently, all three government medical colleges in the state did not have either the manpower or the technology to conduct plasma therapy.
A senior officer in the chief minister’s office said: “The effort is going to be a unique collaboration between a private hospital and the government and the idea is to use the therapy as a compassionate move to save lives.”
He added that in case the plasma therapy shows results, it can be used on other critical patients as well.
The ACP had no travel history
The ACP (Ludhiana North) tested positive for Covid-19 a few days ago and has remained on ventilator ever since.
Although he had no travel history, he is supposed to have got the infection while on duty at a sabzi mandi. His first sample tested negative but the next test came out to be positive.
Kohli’s wife, driver, who is a constable from Ferozepur, and SHO of Jodhewal police station, which comes under the ACP’s jurisdiction, also tested positive for the virus.
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has planned to conduct two clinical trials of plasma therapy in the next two weeks for the treatment of critically ill Covid-19 patients.
The ICMR has invited letter of intent from health institutions and hospitals to participate in these controlled trials.
The ICMR, however, made it clear that it does not recommend the plasma therapies as treatment outside clinical trial settings.
Kerala was the first state in India to initiate the protocol for plasma therapy.
Meanwhile, Punjab registered another coronavirus-related death Friday. A 58-year-old revenue official died in Ludhiana of a heart attack while battling the disease.
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