Satyendar Jain’s health improves after being given plasma therapy

nNEW DELHI: Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain’s condition has improved after receiving plasma therapy for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) on Friday night at Max hospital, Sa`ket.

The minister’s fever has subsided and he is off oxygen support, according to hospital sources. He is currently stable and is being monitored by a team of critical care specialists in the hospital’s intensive care unit, according to sources.

Convalescent plasma therapy uses a component of the blood called plasma, which is rich in virus-fighting antibodies, from someone who has recovered from the infection, to boost an infected person’s immunity.

Jain, 55, had tested positive for the infection on Wednesday, after testing negative a day before that. He had been admitted to the Delhi-government-run Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital in Tahirpur on Monday night with a high-grade fever and low oxygen saturation.

At the hospital, he had been on intermittent oxygen to manage the symptoms. He had developed pneumonia, a known complication of Covid-19. The minister, who has no comorbidities, started getting breathless and giddy on Friday morning.

The infection usually causes severe symptoms in older people and those with comorbid conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, kidney or heart disease. A CT scan on Friday afternoon showed that the pneumonia patch in his lungs had increased. He was moved to the intensive care unit in the morning.

As his symptoms worsened, the minister was shifted to Max hospital, Saket.

Union home minister Amit Shah had on Friday tweeted, “Praying for the speedy recovery of Shri Satyendra Jain, Health Minister of Delhi who is battling with COVID-19 infection.”