KMC gets ICMR nod for plasma therapy

KMC gets ICMR nod for plasma therapy

26/06/2020

Kurnool Medical College (KMC) has been approved as the 60th centre in the country to conduct plasma therapy for COVID-19 patients with mild to moderate symptoms and the trials will begin within the next two days, according to medical college Principal P. Chandrashekar.

At a press conference here on Thursday, Dr. Chandrasekhar appealed to all those who recovered from COVID-19 and completed 28 days, must come forward voluntarily and donate plasma as antibodies in it would be useful for treating those having moderate symptoms and undergoing treatment.

He thanked Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy and Health Chief Secretary K.S. Jawahar Reddy for taking special interest in KMC getting equipment worth ₹25 lakh and pursuing the ICMR for according the nod. Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences at Tirupati was also given the permission to conduct plasma therapy, he added.

Ethics panel

Meanwhile, an ethics committee was formed with Dr. Bhavani Prasad as its chairman to go into all the issues related to plasma therapy, he said.

There were about 1,600 positive cases in Kurnool district and 200 of them were still getting treatment at the Kurnool GGH, which has been designated as State COVID Hospital.

"In the absence of a drug to cure the disease and a vaccine is still at the trial stage, plasma therapy is the only option now," he opined.