Backing plasma therapy to assist significantly in treating Covid-19 patients, Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar said that the government was awaiting Indian Council of Medical Research's (ICMR) approval to pursue it further.
"As a doctor, I am confident that plasma therapy will work," Sudhakar, the minister in-charge for Covid-19 in Bengaluru, told DH, following a meeting chaired by Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa with senior ministers and officials. The treatment has shown great promise in Kerala, and Karnataka was keen on taking up the same to treat patients, he said.
It can be recalled that the Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute (BMCRI) ethics committee had cleared convalescent plasma therapy for treating critically-ill Covid-19 patients. The therapy will transfuse the antibodies present in a recovered patient's blood to a patients on ventilator support, which increases chances of the patients' recovery.
Rapid kits
One lakh rapid testing kits will arrive soon in the State, Sudhakar said, adding that they cannot be used to diagnose whether a patient had Covid-19. "Only Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test has 100% accuracy in detecting the disease. Rapid kits can be used just to check whether anti-bodies that fight Covid-19 are generated in a body," he said.