Plasma therapy

According to official statistics, in Pakistan, of the 154,334 patients of coronavirus, 56,391 have recovered. This shows that on an average, one in three patients have recovered. In view of the fact that the use of plasma of recovered patients has proved effective in the treatment of Covid-19, we have a sufficiently large number of coronavirus survivors who can save precious human lives by donating their plasma.

Even though the Ministry of National Health says plasma therapy should not be considered as a cure, doctors say that plasma donation by one survivor can help cure two to three patients of coronavirus. In Karachi, the plasma therapy has produced promising results. Things have been smooth because survivors are willing to donate their plasma. It is, however, difficult to get voluntary donors in other parts of the country.

Since there is no proven treatment for the coronavirus, medical experts and scientists are frantically trying things from drugs to survivors’ plasma to treat Covid-19 patients. The plasma method of treatment had been applied to treat infections before the advent of modern medicines. While the evidence is sketchy, the use of plasma may have served well during the 1918 flu pandemic. Experts believe that when the human body encounters a new germ, it produces proteins called antibodies that help fight the infection. Medical experts are of the view that transfusing a survivor’s antibodies could help a patient’s fight virus until his own immune system resumes working.

There are few coronavirus survivors who are coming forward to donate their plasma. Herein lies the crunch. Doctors from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa have appealed to Covid-19 survivors to donate their plasma to save human lives. The entire society should join hands in motivating coronavirus survivors to donate their plasma. According to unconfirmed reports, a survivor’s blood plasma can fetch Rs200, 000 to Rs250,000. This tendency to commodify a life-saving therapy should be discouraged.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 18^th, 2020.

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