Centre disagrees with Kejriwal govt on Plasma Therapy, says it’s still in experimental stage

New Delhi: The Centre on Tuesday sought to disapprove of Kejriwal government’s suggestion on use of Plasma therapy in treatment of Covid-19 patients.

“Plasma therapy is not a proven therapy for treatment of COVID-19 and is still in the experimental stage,” Health Ministry told media persons today.

Delhi CM mooted the idea of Plasma Therapy in treating Covid patients

Delhi Chief Minister on Friday said initial results of Plasma Therapy trial conducted on 4 Covid-19 patients is encouraging and gives hope of saving people’s lives from the dreaded disease.

The Chief Minister had also appealed to people who have recovered from the disease to come forward and donate plasma for serious Corona patients to save their lives.

Under the Plasma therapy, transfusion of plasma from recovered patients to severly ill Corona patients is conducted.

What Health Ministry said on Plasma Therapy

“There is no therapy in the world for COVID-19. Plasma therapy is not a proven therapy. It is still in the experimental stage and there is no evidence to use this as treatment. Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is studying the efficacy of this therapy,” said Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary, Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry, here on Tuesday.

Plasma therapy isn’t a proven therapy. It’s still in experimental stage, right now ICMR is doing it as an experiment to identify&do additional understanding of this therapy. Till it’s approved no one should use it,it’ll be harmful to patient&illegal: Lav Aggarwal, Health Ministry pic.twitter.com/MFjgpWyb25

— ANI (@ANI) April 28, 2020

Agarwal also cautioned about the use of this therapy

“Until ICMR concludes its study and a robust scientific proof is available, Plasma therapy should be used only for research or trial purposes. There can even be life-threatening complications if plasma therapy is not used as per guidelines. Until and unless this is approved as a therapy for COVID-19, it is unjustified to spread any claim about the effectiveness of this therapy,” he said.

Until ICMR concludes its study & a robust scientific proof is available, Plasma therapy should be used only for research or trial purpose. If plasma therapy is not used in proper manner under proper guideline then it can also cause life threatening complications: Lav Aggarwal,MHA https://t.co/zz9nBRRztg

— ANI (@ANI) April 28, 2020

“We are doing better than other countries. We are taking pro-active measures to combat COVID-19. Our countrymen are supporting the administration in the fight against COVID-19,” he added. (ANI)