PGIMER Chandigarh starts Plasma therapy trial in COVID-19 positive patients

The Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) Chandigarh has been chosen as one of the national centers by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to conduct a trial of convalescent plasma therapy in patients with serious coronavirus infection. The approval was received last Friday, PGIMER said in a statement. With this, the serious sick COVID-19 positive patients admitted in Nehru Hospital Extension Block will be eligible to get this form of treatment. In this trial, antibodies from the blood of patients who have recovered from coronavirus are used to treat severely infected patients. However, the exact role of this therapy in the treatment of coronavirus patients is still debatable and hence ICMR has decided to conduct a multicentric study to clarify its role in these patients. The collaborative departments for this trial are Departments of Internal Medicine, Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, Transfusion Medicine, Endocrinology, Virology and community Medicine. Also Read | Gathering of 50 persons allowed at wedding functions, 20 at last rites: MHA The team of doctors from the Department of Transfusion Medicine will start getting in touch with patients who have recovered from the novel coronavirus and would explain the nature of the study. The study is aimed at assessing the safety and efficacy of the convalescent plasma to limit complications in coronavirus patients. -PTC News