Iran Press/Iran News: In an exclusive interview with Iran Press on Wednesday, Hassan Abolqasemi said that plasma-therapy was a plan submitted to the scientific committee of the Ministry of Health and revised, then it was approved by Iranian Blood Transfusion Organization and Baqiyatallah Medical University and registered in Clinical Testing Center.
The head of Iran's Plasma-Therapy Project said the first plasma was formally received in late February and injected to the patients on March 14, adding that mobile units have been provided for the recovered patients to donate their blood plasma.
Iran, only country in West Asia with a 'plasma industry'
“Thanks to the good infrastructure of the country in plasma industry which was previously developed in the 2000s, and as we have very sophisticated and confident plasma-taking units in the private sector and we had good growth in plasma field in Blood Transfusion Organization, we are the only country in West Asia that has a 'plasma industry',” he added.
“As its licenses were issued and standards were written, it [plasma-therapy] came to help us. Units active in the private sector came also to help us based on their social responsibility so that we can provide the service to the patients,” Abolqasemi said.
The official noted plasma was supposed to be used for those patients with medium and severe levels of the disease, but with a pandemic wave of the disease, ICU patients were prioritized to receive plasma.
With the plasma-therapy center launched, the project was conducted in Tehran, Qom, and a number of other provinces' hospitals, the official added.
He said so far, around 320 units of plasma have been received and 130 patients have received the therapy.
The head of Iran's Plasma-Therapy Project explained that some people’s bodies can resist against the disease and produce its ant-body; then the antibody is used to cure COVID-19 patients and the method was known for the previous disease such as SARS, Ebola, and H1N1.
101/214
Read More:
Iran to produce medicine for Covid-19 by plasma-derived therapy
Plasma therapy for corona-infected patients launched in Iran
Research on Plasma therapy for COVID-19 patients kicks off
