In the latest notification issued, Sindh Government and the Health Department have given the go ahead to three hospitals to use plasma of people who have recovered from coronavirus to treat other coronavirus patients.
Sindh Government has allowed Dr Ruth KM Pfau Civil Hospital, Karachi, Liaquat University Hospital, Hyderabad and National Institute of Blood Disease, Karachi to experiment with passive immunization strategies to cure patients.
The project will be closely supervised by a team of experts which will include physicians, ICU specialist, consultant hematologist, and representative of Sindh Blood Transfusion Authority (SBTA).
Tahir Shamsi, the supervising hematologist, had explained that under this technique plasma from a recovered patient is injected into a person suffering from coronavirus. This allows for new anti bodies to develop that fight off the virus.
A helpline number (0333-2976390) has also been issued and recovered patients can contact here to donate blood which may help other patients.
If the technique proves successful it will be further discussed with other provinces to develop strategies to implement it across the country.
As of yet, there have been no definitive vaccines or proven therapies to fight the virus. Chloroquin which is used to treat malaria is the only drug which has shown promising results.
