Vietnamese doctors to use plasma therapy on Covid-19 patients

Doctors in Hanoi are studying using blood plasma infusions from people who have recovered from the coronavirus to treat those still battling the infection, VnExpress reported.

The Ministry of Health has assigned the National Tropical Diseases Hospital, the National Institute of Haematology and Blood Transfusion (NIHBT) and specialized hematology hospitals to study plasma extraction from people who have fully recovered from the disease to treat serious ill patients in accordance with the regimen recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).

A Covid-19 patient in critical condition was treated at the Emergency Department under the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases on February 24. Photo: VNE

The NIHBT’s Director Bach Quoc Khanh told VnExpress since the traditional method has not been effective, injecting “convalescent plasma” on Covid-19 patients in critical condition would be helpful for their recovery.

“Convalescent plasma” contains anti-virus antibodies, when injected into Covid-19 patients, antibodies will support coronavirus ailing patients to fight the viruses.

"This method has few complications. The extracted plasma will be a special blood product, thus equiring special indications," Khanh said.

Treatment with plasma is a new method, not yet used in Vietnam, thus experts are studying it carefully.

"It cannot be done right now, we need a few more days to read the documents, instructions and references to make specific plans," Khanh stressed.

He added that plasma extraction is not difficult thanks to the use of machinery and equipment similar to the extraction of other blood preparations and the NIHBT has technology available for the job.

Pham Ngoc Thach, director of the National Hospital of Tropical Diseases, said experts are collecting and carefully researching medical documents and ways to limit possible complications to ensure safety for Covid-19 patients when they are on clinical trials.

"We will use cured Covid-19 patients’ plasma to treat those in critical health condition if there are too many serious cases," Thach said.