IMA backs plasma therapy after ICMR drops it

New Delhi: Indian Medical Association 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's National Task Force 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.

India had earlier conducted the world's largest randomised controlled trials to study the efficacy of plasma therapy. The study, which came out in September last year, showed that plasma therapy failed to save people dying from Covid-19.

Recently, British medical journal, Lancet published strong evidence reconfirming that plasma is not effective in reducing deaths in Covid-19 hospitalisation.

The ICMR decision, announced on Monday, followed a meeting of the ICMR National Task Force for Covid-19 on Friday. In the meeting, all members voted in favour of doing away with convalescent plasma therapy for Covid-19 treatment citing its ineffectiveness and inappropriate use in several cases.

Ganga Ram Hospital chairman Dr DS Rana said plasma therapy has failed to change the "course of mortality" and asserted that some scientists are also of the view that it is helping in promoting mutations and variants.

"I think it is wise that plasma therapy has been taken off the list because over a period of one year it has failed to change the course of mortality. Every step taken should absolutely be based on the evidence. Some scientists are also of the view that this is helping in promoting mutations and variants," he added. With an exponential rise in COVID-19 cases across the country, there has been an unprecedented spur in the demand for plasma which many experts believe to have done more harm than good.