| The first COVID-19 patient of India, who had gone through plasma therapy, was discharged on Sunday. He was admitted to Delhi’s Max Hospital.
On April 4, the 49-year-old man was admitted to the hospital with corona symptoms. After the next few days, his condition started deteriorating. Other than corona, he was fighting with several other diseases. First, the man required external oxygen, to maintain saturation. After this, he soon developed pneumonia with type 1 respiratory failure. On April 8, he was put on the ventilator. When his condition became critical, with no sign of improvement, the family of the patient requested hospital authorities for plasma therapy on compassionate ground. This kind of treatment modality was first in India for this disease. His family arranged the plasma donor, who had recovered from infection three weeks before her donation and also tested negative of COVID -19 and in some other standardized tests. On April 14, the man got fresh plasma as a treatment modality as a sideline to standard treatment protocols. Few days after the patient started getting better and on April 18, he was weaned off ventilated support as well as started taking food after 24 hours. He was tested two times within 24 hours and with the negative result, he was shifted to a normal room. Finally, the patient got a new life. “With sustained efforts by a team of doctors comprising of Dr. Omender Singh, Head, Critical Care, Dr. Deven Juneja, Critical Care, and Dr. Sangeeta Pathak, Head, Blood Bank; and all frontline healthcare workers including junior doctors, nurses, GDAs and lab technicians among others and strong will power of the patient himself, he was finally discharged today (Sunday). He will be staying home for another two weeks as per government guidelines,” the hospital said. Dr. Sandeep Budhiraja, Group Medical Director, Max Healthcare, and Senior Director of Institute of Internal Medicine said: “We are delighted that the therapy worked well in his case, opening a new treatment opportunity during these challenging times. But it is important that we also understand that plasma therapy is no magic bullet. During the patient’s treatment at Max Hospital, other standard treatment protocols were followed and we can say that Plasma Therapy could have worked as a catalyst in speeding up his recovery. We cannot attribute 100 percent recovery to plasma therapy only, as there are multiple factors which carved his path to recovery.” Abhay Soi, Chairman, Max Healthcare, said: “In a country like India, a therapy of such kind has a good potential to help critically ill COVID patients. Recent modifications in government regulations have made it more accessible for hospitals in various states. We need positive support from individuals who have recovered from the disease to come forward as donors.”
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