SOUTHERN Philippines Medical Center (SPMC) said it is now working on the guidelines for the Convalescent Plasma Therapy wherein blood plasma donation of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) survivors will be used to help those who are still combating the respiratory infection.
SPMC chief Dr. Leopoldo Vega, on Monday’s virtual presser, said the plan is now in the pipeline. However, they are just awaiting the guidelines coming from their hematology section.
Vega said their institution has the capacity of using convalescent plasma to give those who are in moderate and critical symptoms.
“We have the machine for it, we can do it in a blood bank facility wherein they separate the plasma from the blood of this convalescent patient and give this to patients,” Vega said.
He added, “We’ve been talking about it since last Wednesday and I think the head of our hematology will soon release guidelines on how we will be able to do this in terms of using convalescent plasma.”
Convalescent plasma therapy is the transfusion of blood drawn from a person who has recently recovered from a disease so it can be screened for antibodies that can be used to treat other sick people.
The blood plasma is the yellowish liquid component of blood that carries cells and proteins throughout the body.
Davao City, as of April 14, has a total of 76 Covid-19 confirmed cases. Of this number, a total of 42 have recovered.
Last week, the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) in Manila called on Covid-19 survivors to go to their hospital and donate their blood for plasma therapy to increase the chances of recovery of other patients who are still fighting the disease.
The Department of Health (DOH) said they are still studying the effectiveness of convalescent plasma therapy as treatment for Covid-19.
Vega added that they are also looking at a hyperbaric method to treat their patients.
“There are reports, especially anecdotal reports coming from a hospital in New York, wherein they’ve been using hyperbaric treatment for moderate and selected patients for Covid positive and we are looking at the possibility of using hyperbaric medicine,” Vega said.
The SPMC chief said that hyperbaric is a new section at SPMC.
“We can see whether these moderate patients no longer need intubation. The kind of challenges that we’re facing is we’re looking for modalities to make sure that we are able to serve our patients well,” Vega said. JCR