People returning from Da Nang city carry out procedures for rapid COVID-19 testing in Hai Ba Trung district of Hanoi on August 1 (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) - The National Hospital for Tropical Diseases has called onrecovered COVID-19 patients to donate their plasma, which would be used totreat the critically ill.
The call was made as the Health Ministry approved a study on the safetyand efficiency of a new method that employs convalescent plasmatherapy to treat other patients with illness at medium, serious andcritical levels.
The study was conducted by Dr Pham Ngoc Thach, director of the NationalHospital for Tropical Diseases, Prof and Dr Nguyen Thanh Liem, head of theprivate Vinmec Research Institute of Stemcell and Gene Technology and otherscientists, doctors from the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology andNational Institute of Haematology and Blood Transfusion.
Plasma donors must meet criteria including aged from 18 to 65, weight of over50kg for men and 45kg for women, who have recovered from COVID-19,and were discharged from hospital for at least 14 days.
Since August 3, the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases has looked forplasma donors and so far, five people have registered for donation, one ofthem a health worker, Vietnam News Agency reported on August 6.
The donors would undergo several tests to see if their plasma is qualified fortreatment or not.
Dr Van Dinh Trang from the hospital’s Department of Microbiology and MolecularBiology, said that one recovered COVID-19 patient with eligible plasma couldhelp save the life of another patient who was in a medium, serious or veryserious health condition.
“The donation is voluntary and donors could stop donating at any time,” hesaid.
Those who want to register for the donation could contact the hospital at thehotline 19003228 or go to the hospital’s Social Affairs Desk.
On May 15, the Health Ministry issued a decision on the temporary reception,storing and transport of convalescent plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients.
As there is currently no vaccine against the new strain coronavirus, theuse of plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients is considered a possibletreatment for the disease. Vietnam’s decision to explore this path indealing with the disease was prompted by international studies andreports which suggest that blood plasma containing COVID-19antibodies drawn from recovered patients may help the body of the recipientfight off the SARS-CoV-2./.
VNA
