KMCH Starts Plasma Therapy for Experimental Treatment of COVID-19 Patients

After Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Khulna Medical College Hospital (KMCH) has begun experimentally with Convalescent Plasma Therapy (CPT) to save the lives of Covid-19 infected patients.

The physician who recovered from coronavirus contributed his plasmas to KMCH for the first time on Thursday night.

A medical team led by Dr. SM Tushar Alam, head of the hospital's blood transfusion department, administered CPT to the hospital for coronavirus-infected patients.

Sources said that Dr. Mohammad Manjurul, an intern at Sir Salimullah Medical College and Hospital and a resident of Bagerhat, donated his plasma to the blood bank of the hospital.

Dr. Manjurul was found diagnosed with coronavirus in April and recovered later.

Prof. Dr. Mohammad Abdul Ahad of Khulna Medical College, Director of KMCH, Dr. Munshi Reza Sekendar, Coordinator of Coronavirus Prevention and Treatment Management Committee, Dr. Mehedi Newaz, Focal Person of Corona Dedicated Hospital Dr. Farid Uddin Ahmed, Dr. Shoilendranath Biswas and Dr. Firoz were present.

Dr SM Tushar Alam, said, “ Convalescent Plasma Therapy (CPT) has started at the hospital  and we hope we’ll see positive change in the  patient within one or two days.”

Plasma is the liquid portion of blood that remains when all red and white blood cells and platelets have been removed. CPT is extracting blood plasma from an individual who has recovered from coronavirus illness and transfusing it into a patient who is sick.

CPT is, by far, the oldest treatment being tested to battle COVID-19, being successful in cases during the previous coronavirus outbreaks such as the Sars epidemic in 2003 and the Ebola virus outbreak in 2013. Physicians used CPT effectively before the specific treatment was developed for H1N1 influenza (Spanish virus), SARS-1 and MERS virus.

Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) began collecting plasmas from COVID-19 recovered donors. CPT was used for the first time in Bangladesh to treat COVID-19 patients at Evercare Hospital Dhaka (formerly known as Apollo Hospital) on 6 May.

In Bangladesh, a National Technical Subcommittee on Plasma Treatment under the Directorate-General for Health Services (DGHS) was established at the beginning of April and the DMCH Blood Transfusion Department decided on 28 April to explore CPT for the treatment of COVID-19 patients.

Source: UNB