Dr Ansari lauds govt, DRAP for go-ahead to plasma therapy clinical trials

• Offers to bear the cost of acquiring and processing the plasma for the sake of humanity.
• Describes the step as the biggest development in the management of critical patients of Coronavirus in Pakistan.
• Says Children’s Hospital and Research Institute Karachi is able to receive the plasma and process it within five days.

KARACHI: Renoned Hematologist Dr Saqib Ansari on Friday thanked the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) for acknowledging the efforts of Children Hospital and Research Institute and allowing clinical trials of plasma therapy for critical patients of Corona virus.

Dr Ansari described the step by the DRAP as the biggest development in the management of critical patients of Coronavirus in Pakistan.

“In another meeting, the Clinical Study Committee (CSC) of DRAP allowed clinical trials of convalescent plasma for the purpose of passive immunisation during the Covid-19 pandemic in Pakistan,” read an earlier statement from the authority.

Children Hospital and Research Institute, Karachi and Houston Methodist Hospital of the United States are already in touch with each other in this regard.

In the latest statement about the recent advancement regarding to the treatment of Coronavirus patients, Dr Ansari reiterated that the hospital is ready to bear the cost of acquiring and processing the plasma for the sake of humanity.

“Children’s Hospital and Research Institute Karachi is able to receive plasma from all recovered patients of the virus in Pakistan and process the donated plasma within five days,” he said.

Dr Ansari further said that along with several antibiotics and other therapies, the plasma of those recovered patients affected by the virus in the past is being used in several parts of the developed world. The method has also been recommended by the Food and Drug Authority of the US, he added.

Based on the latest study in Beijing in collaboration of the world’s leading research institutes, Dr Ansari says that the plasma infusion in critical patients of Coronavirus has yielded excellent results.

Dr Saqib Ansari, the CEO of Children Hospital and Research Institute, had launched some two weeks ago an aggressive campaign for the clinical trials of plasma therapy. During the campaign, a team of the hospital led by Dr Ansari approached multiple high-ups in the provincial government of Sindh and the federal government. In this regard, the team had written a letter to Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah. Dr Saqib had also approached Dr Salma Kausar, senior director health of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporatoin (KMC), and other designatories as well as senior researchers and hematologists, in this regard.

On April 2, the first Coronavirus patient in Pakistan Yahya Jaffery had donated his plasma to Children Hospital and Research Institute Karachi for the treatment of critical patients of the virus.

On the occasion, Dr Ansari had held a press conference and demanded the government for a go-ahead to use the plasma for the treatment of the patients.

“We need no funds, new machinery or workforce as Children’s Hospital and Research Institute Karachi is ready to offer its services free of cost,” the seasoned Hematologist had offered.