MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th April, 2020) The Turkish Health Ministry has green-lighted the use of blood plasma of those recovered from COVID-19 in treating patients still struggling with disease, and the therapy is already proving to be effective, Dr. Kerem Kinik, the Turkish Red Crescent (TRC) president, told Sputnik in an interview.
More and more health experts are now saying that the plasma therapy could be effective in treating COVID-19. Earlier this week, Moscow health authorities said that they had already started using this method, noting that one plasma donor may help up to three coronavirus patients.
"We know actually that it is effective. And it is now approved by the Ministry of Health and it is routine in our [COVID-19] therapy schedule," Kinik, who is also the head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said.
Turkish doctors transferred the first plasma four days ago, and the therapy has a "positive effect" on COVID-19 patients, he added.
According to Kinik, this therapy has been put into use because the method itself is time-proven and simple and because there is no approved medicine for COVID-19. The therapy, however, is a complementary one and is being applied in combination with other types of treatment.
"Articles and scientific research show that this therapy is very effective for each individual patient but we have to start from the serious cases first. Because we have very limited plasma, so we have to use [it] effectively according to the serious and life threatening conditions of the cases," he explained.
The TRC president added that the Red Crescent had already started sharing this experience with the Red Crosses across Europe, in particular, those in Germany, Spain, France and Italy.
As of Friday, Turkey updated its COVID-19 case count by 4,747 to over 47,000. The number of daily infections has been increasing by more than 4,000 for three consecutive days. The death toll is standing at 1,006.
