Khulna Medical College Hospital (KMCH) has started Convalescent Plasma Therapy (CPT) on an experimental basis to treat patients with coronavirus (Covid-19) infection.
An intern doctor, who very recently recovered from the virus, donated his plasma to KMCH for the first time on Thursday night, confirmed Dr Mehedi Newaz, vice-principal of KMCH.
A medical team led by Dr SM Tushar Alam, head of the blood transfusion department at the hospital, administered CPT to treat a coronavirus infected patient at the hospital.
Sources said an intern doctor from a government hospital in Dhaka also donated his plasma to the blood bank of the hospital.
He was found infected with coronavirus in April and later recovered.
Among others, Prof. Dr Mohammad Abdul Ahad of Khulna Medical College, director of KMCH, Dr Munshi Reza Sekendar, coordinator of Coronavirus prevention and treatment management committee, Dr Shoilendranath Biswas and Dr Firoz were present during the administration of CPT for the first time in the hospital.
Dr SM Tushar Alam, said: “Convalescent Plasma Therapy (CPT) has started at the hospital and we hope we’ll see positive change in the patient within one or two days.”
Plasma is the liquid portion of blood that remains when all red and white blood cells and platelets have been removed. CPT is extracting blood plasma from an individual who has recovered from coronavirus illness and transfusing it into a patient who is sick.
CPT is by far the oldest treatment being tested to battle Covid-19, being successful in cases during previous coronavirus outbreaks such as the Sars epidemic in 2003 and the Ebola virus outbreak in 2013. Physicians have used CPT effectively before a specific treatment was developed for the H1N1 influenza (Spanish virus), SARS-1, and the MERS virus.
Previously, Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) also started collecting plasma from Covid-19 recovered donors.
On May 6, CPT was used for treating a Covid-19 patient at the Evercare Hospital Dhaka (formerly known as Apollo Hospital) for the first time in Bangladesh.
In Bangladesh, a national technical subcommittee for plasma treatment under the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) was formed in early April and DMCH’s blood transfusion department decided on April 28 to explore CPT to treat Covid-19 patients.