A doctor attached to the Thika Level Five Hospital in Kiambu County has undergone convalescent plasma therapy after she tested positive for Covid-19.
Convalescent plasma is a therapy where blood from people who have recovered from an illness is used to help others recover meaning that the doctor acquired anti-bodies from a person who already recovered from Covid-19.
The doctor, who contracted the disease last week, was taken to the Metropolitan Hospital in Nairobi where she stayed for four days before she was transferred to the Kenyatta University Teaching, Referral and Research Hospital (KUTRRH).
"One must have had confirmed Covid-19, preferably symptomatic, and have since turned negative not more than three months ago," Isaac Adembesa, a critical care specialised told the Standard.
Ambesa explained that a patient needed to have recovered in a period of three months before the anti-bodies decreased.
The Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) Central Region branch secretary Gor Goody stated that the doctor urgently needed Intensive Care Services as well as convalescent plasma.
She added that the therapy was not available in private facilities in the country saying that services from KUTRH were affordable.
"We are optimistic that the doctor will be treated. She is among the few specialised health providers we have in Kiambu," Gor stated.
Further, she reported that the doctor was responding well to treatment after the therapy.
A proven Covid-19 vaccine is yet to be confirmed but doctors are resorting to convalescent plasma therapy and other medical procedures to fight the disease.
Previously, the therapy has been used as a weapon against the 1918 flu, polio, measles, rabies, hepatitis B and Ebola — with varying levels of success.
Studies have showed that patients who received the therapy improved.
