Bangladesh begins collecting plasma of cured COVID-19 patients, therapy trials next week

Dhaka Medical College Hospital has begun collecting serums from recovered COVID-19 patients to conduct experimental trials on the infected for plasma therapy.

Plasma has already been collected from two cured doctors at the blood transfusion department of DMCH on Saturday.

Dr MA Khan, professor of the haematology department and chairman of the plasma therapy committee, said, “If everything goes smoothly, we will administer the collected plasma to the infected patients next week.”

More plasma will be collected this week; the antibodies in these will be measured. The approval process will be cleared within this time as well, he said, adding that the logistics required for the tests have been brought from Spain.

“The tests are very expensive. The trials will be conducted at a time after collecting enough samples; otherwise the kits will be wasted. We are preparing everything to meet international standards for the tests,” Prof Khan said.

The challenges, he said, lie in getting donors and receiving funds.

“The expenses of receiving plasma from one donor is Tk 12,000. Additionally, there are some other costs involved in the tests.

“We will need more kits for the expansion of the tests in the future, which will require funds. The health ministry has backed us… but the government processes take some time.”

The procedure for plasma therapy involves collecting a blood sample from a recovered COVID-19 patient and transfusing separated plasma to a critically ill patient.

Plasma is a clear part of blood that is left when the blood cells have been removed and contains antibodies and other proteins.

The immune system of an infected person creates natural antibodies to fight the virus. The antibodies grow in number over time in the plasma of an infected person. Through plasma therapy, the antibodies are used to treat other infected patients.

The first plasma was collected from Dr Md Dildar Hossain, a medical officer at the Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College and Hospital’s kidney diseases department. He was diagnosed with COVID-19 on Apr 25, recovered on May 9 and volunteered to donate his plasma.

He resumed office at the Suhrawardy hospital after donating his plasma on Saturday morning. “I want to be a part of this. I used to regularly donate my blood. If it helps a person, it will be a great privilege for me,” he said.

The second recovered patient who donated plasma on Saturday morning was Rawnak Jamil Piash of the anaesthesia department at Sir Salimullah Medical College Hospital.

He said it was a ‘special day’ for him as he was able to contribute something to a bigger cause.

“Doctors live to save people. I feel better than what I used to after donating blood. But we have to encourage people to come forward as the more plasma we collect, the more people we can save,” he said.

On Saturday, Bangladesh registered 16 new fatalities from the novel coronavirus in a daily count, raising the death toll to 314.

The COVID-19 caseload surged to 20,995 on the back of 930 new cases confirmed in the 24 hours to 8 am Saturday, according to the health directorate.

The recovery count also jumped to 4,117 after another 235 COVID-19 patients were released from hospital in the same period.