Dr Khuroo-led panel on Covid-19 recommends plasma therapy to treat patients in J&K

Jahangeer Ganaie

Srinagar: Fifteen days after a 10-member advisory panel was constituted to review the protocol, guidelines and other related issues about the treatment of Covid-19 patients and their implementation, the committee has submitted their views to the government.

“We are hopeful that in the next two days the government will approve our recommendations. The committee held discussions based on literature available and have put forward the same to the government,” Head of the committee Dr. Mohammed Sultan Khuroo told Kashmir News Observer (KNO).

He said that in the report they have mentioned which drug is required at which time based on research and have also given a detailed report about isolation, discharge, home quarantine and administrative quarantine with regard to Covid-19 pandemic.

He said that they have also communicated to the government to start plasma therapy on priority basis and be carried out in a meticulous manner.

“If drugs are given at an appropriate time, plasma therapy is being started and other guidelines are followed in letter and spirit, we can save many lives,” he said.

On asking if there is any hospital t w technically equipped for administering plasma therapy, he said the there are facilities available at SKIMS Soura and GMC Jammu where this process can be started and in future it can be started in other hospitals as well.

“Plasma method has a simple premise. The blood of people who have recovered from an infection contains antibodies. Antibodies are molecules that have learned to recognize and fight the pathogens, such as viruses, that have caused disease,” he said.

He said that doctors can separate plasma, one of the blood components that contain such antibodies, and administer it to people whose bodies are currently fighting an infectious disease. “This can help their immune systems reject the pathogen more efficiently.”

“Gathering in a closed atmosphere can prove more dangerous in terms of the spread of virus than open gatherings,” he said.

He said that they are hopeful that the government will take their recommendations seriously and all important things mentioned in the report will be approved. —(KNO)