‘No plasma therapy without govt permission’

Islamabad: Plasma therapy for the treatment of Coronavirus cannot be performed anywhere in the country without the permission of the government, as it is very important to follow the relevant rules and regulations of medicine for this purpose, latest guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health informed the public here on Tuesday.

“The Ministry of Health has directed all concerned agencies to ensure that plasma therapy is tested on a patient only under the supervision of specialists in an approved hospital, and for this, the relevant research regulatory authority will issue a permit. Only those who have recovered from Coronavirus for more than two weeks and who meet all relevant rules and regulations of the Safe Blood Programme and the Provincial Safe Blood Transfusion Authorities, will be eligible to donate plasma,” the guidelines add.

The FDA has listed plasma therapy as only an experimental treatment for Coronavirus. Its experiments are ongoing and results are being reviewed. The guidelines state that plasma therapy cannot be considered a treatment for Coronavirus.

Moreover, the document points out that plasma can only be donated to Coronavirus patients and is not allowed to be sold or bought. The final consent of the plasma donor is very important ,and at this stage, all instructions issued by the World Health Organization must be implemented. It will be the responsibility of the relevant laboratory to perform all donor tests in accordance with international standards before plasma is taken. The guidelines state that whenever a patient undergoes plasma therapy, all data and results are immediately sent to the National Drug Safety Monitoring Board and the National Database Record.

Evidence so far has shown that plasma therapy is not effective in patients who have been on a ventilator for seven days or in patients who have lost more than one organ system. It is also important to note that the side effects of plasma therapy have also been observed, so plasma can be given only with the permission of the relevant authority and under the supervision of specialist doctors.

The Ministry of Health has appealed to the public not to be engaged in buying plasma from any blood bank or hospital and to contact only authorized government agencies for information about ongoing trials on this treatment. Individuals who have fully recovered from Coronavirus and have not shown any symptoms of illness for two weeks can contact 1166 to register as a donor for future plasma therapy.