These are disconcerting times indeed as Thursday’s Covid-19 figures show an addition of 49000+ cases taking the national tally to nearly 13 lakhs with 740 added fatalities also on the day. Discovering light in this dark tunnel is difficult, although, as per Union Health Ministry’s data, recovery rate has improved to touch 63.45 % and fatality rate after declining is 2.36 %. And contributing silently to these encouraging figures, among a host of treatment protocols has been the newly-evolved yet steadily-accepted tool of plasma therapy.  Although there are different views among health experts engaged in the ongoing search for treatment options beyond the vaccine with the singular aim of pulling out patients from the grasp of death, in terms of efficacy, plasma therapy is continuing to draw quite a good amount of attention. Many states have already accepted it as an arm of treatment and from the state Health Secretary’s statement on Thursday, it’s clear that Arunachal too is weighing this option. This is a rational decision since the state as per Thursday’s figures stood on the threshold of 1000 cases and for returning back on the tracks of recovery, any option which has chances of bringing positive results need to be tried, of course after careful evaluation.

Plasma therapy can be understood as collection of plasma from individuals who have recovered fully from Covid-19, to be applied to patients having moderate to severe symptoms with the background when the first line of treatment has failed to produce desired results. Plasma, as it is known, is a component of blood that contains antibodies and when collected from a recovered Covid patient, it becomes usable in the recovery process as it contains antibodies specific to the treatment methodology. It will be relevant to note that the Union Health Ministry  in their updated clinical management protocol has also recommended the use of convalescent plasma therapy (the exact medical term) of  as one of the investigational therapy for patients who are not improving i.e. where oxygen requirement is progressively increasing despite application of steroids and other supportive drugs. It can also be observed that there is a growing hunt for plasma donors across the country with appeals on social media platforms for voluntary donations. Delhi has already made a plasma bank with similar lines of action in various parts of the country. Even if the time hasn’t arrived yet to accept plasma therapy as a ‘magic cure’ for Covid-19 as more research-based data are needed to make corroborations, somehow, the concept is gaining importance which can’t be overlooked either.

State’s health department can exercise this option according to the evolving situation. If there is a success, as the next step, the idea of having a plasma bank can also be thought of.