Chandigarh, Jun 12 (IANS): Lighting up hopes for many fighting their Covid-19 battle, a 60-year-old man from Haryana who was PGIMER's first patient to be administered convalescent plasma therapy, was discharged after his successful recovery, the institution said on Friday.

PGIMER Director Jagat Ram was present on the occasion to compliment the Kurukshetra resident on his successful recovery.

"It is definitely an encouraging news for all of us and I compliment the entire team for their untiring efforts to make it a success.

"This is the first patient in the PGIMER who has received plasma therapy which is recommended for moderately ill Covid-19 patients. This noble cause needs to be propagated," he said.

G.D. Puri, Dean (Academics) and Head, Department of Anasthesia and Intensive Care, said: "The successful recovery with plasma therapy is a positive indicator.

"The trial is teamwork from the Departments of Internal Medicine, Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care, Transfusion Medicine, Virology, Community medicine and Public Health and Endocrinology."

Puri also said for plasma therapy clinical trials, they need more donors to come forward.

"We have to counsel the recovered patients and their relatives to convince them to donate blood."

Pankaj Malhotra, of the Department of Internal Medicine, said that PGIMER was one of the centres for the ICMR national trial on convalescent plasma therapy for corona positive patients.

"The PGI was chosen as one of the ICMR sites in the last week of April. The first patient who donated plasma was on May 9. The first corona patient who became eligible to get plasma therapy got enrolled on June 1. He came in a serious condition with pneumonia, requiring oxygen therapy. After plasma therapy and supportive care, he was taken off oxygen therapy in three day's time and gradually his condition improved over time."

Rati Ram Sharma, head of the Department of Transfusion Medicine, who played a pivotal role in this success story, said: "This is a great moment for all of us at the PGIMER that one critically sick patient could be salvaged with the help of convalescent plasma therapy.

"We are highly grateful to our donors who came forward to donate plasma for this noble cause and hope that many more will follow so that we can provide the same to the needy patients in future as well."

Convalescent plasma entails using plasma taken from patients who recovered from corona to treat other patients.

There are many reports that show that it is useful therapy in early stage of the disease.

The patients who have recovered from corona infection are eligible to donate plasma, which is then stored in the blood bank to be given later to patients who come with severe infection.