A ray of hope amidst all the worries as the Indian Council of Medical Research(ICMR) has given green signal to the Government Medical College and Hospital(GMCH) with four other medical colleges in state to conduct clinical trials for plasma therapy for COVID-19. A randomised controlled study to assess the safety and efficacy of convalescent plasma to limit complications due to COVID-19.
As per information, at least 111 medical colleges from all over the country sought permission for this. Out of which just 21 institutions including five from Maharashtra have got permission. Recently some study showed that a patient who is healed of coronavirus can cure another corona positive patient.
However, no valid evidence has yet been found on how successful plasma therapy can be in treatment of coronavirus patients. The principal investigator of GMCH ‘Plasma Therapy Trial Project ‘is Dr.Sumant Meshram who is the head of the department of the respiratory diseases at GMCH while Dr.Rajesh Gosavi head of the department of the medicine and Dr.Sanjay Parate,Head of the blood bank are the co –investigators. The research will be conducted under the guidance of Dr.Sajal Mitra in two groups each comprises 226 patients. One group will be treated with general medicine and another will be administered plasma therapy and both the groups will be studied.
