On April 27, 2020 The King George Medical University (KGMU), Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh became the 1st government (govt) hospital in India to successfully launch the Convalescent Plasma Therapy (CPT) treatment for the COVID-19 patients. The 1st dose of CPT was administered to a 58-year old patient.
About CPT
- It is an experimental procedure for COVID-19 patients, where plasma, a blood component, from a cured patient is transfused to a critically ill coronavirus patient as the blood of the recovered COVID-19 person has developed antibodies to fight the virus.
- The intention of this therapy is to transform the immunity from a healthy person to a sick patient using convalescent plasma. The process of donating plasma is similar to that of donating blood and takes about an hour.
Key Points
i.The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has recently allowed states to start clinical trials of CPT. Many states like Kerala, Gujarat and Punjab have already started using it for treatment of coronavirus patients.
ii.Several other countries, including the United Kingdom and the United States, have also started the trials.
iii.The Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) has approved the clinical trial proposal for CPT submitted by ICMR & stated that plasma donors can be asked to donate repeatedly but not more than 1000 ml of plasma can be collected from one donor in a month.
About KGMU
Chancellor– Anandiben Patel (Governor of UP)
Vice Chancellor– MLB Bhatt
