Private hospitals, labs not authorized to separate plasma from COVID-19

CAIRO – 9 June 2020: "Private hospitals and laboratories are not authorized to separate the plasma of those who recovered from COVID-19 to be injected into infected patients," said Director of National Blood Transfusion Banks Ehab Serag el-Din.

Serag el-Din noted that the Ministry of Health has announced that it allocated five banks to receive donors who recovered from coronavirus, saying “We have huge potential to secure plasma and determine its efficacy before injecting it into COVID-19 patients.”

He further explained that the plasma of the recovered are injected into certain patients who are placed on ventilators, or critical cases who are not placed on ventilators.

Minister of Health Hala Zayed has invited those who recovered from COVID-19 to donate their plasma to be used in curing infected cases after several cases have shown improvement after being injected with plasma.

A notable number of recovered patients sought to donate their plasma as a result. Donors of plasma do not receive money, and the patients who will be injected do not pay for it.

Director of the National Blood Transfusion Banks Ehab Serag el-Din said that the scientific committee in charge of developing the therapeutic protocols for people with corona is the only body that determines those entitled to plasma treatment.

He continued, “There is only specific patients who can be treated using plasma, as the injection is not suitable for all infected.”

He further said that the plasma of the recovered does not become valid after 28 days of recovery, because the efficiency of the antibody decreases. He continued, “There are two criteria for determining the validity of plasma injection: first is the efficiency of the plasma itself, and second is the percentage and the number of antibodies in the plasma.