Chandigarh, May 3 (PTI) The Punjab government on Sunday said it has received the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) approval to undertake clinical trials for plasma therapy on COVID-19 patients.

The trial is expected to commence shortly, Additional Chief Secretary Vini Mahajan said.

The hospitals which have partnered to undertake the clinical trial of convalescent plasma therapy are the government medical college in Amritsar and Patiala, Guru Gobind Singh Medical College and Hospital in Faridkot, Sri Guru Ram Das Institute of Medical Sciences and Research at Amritsar, the Christian Medical College and Hospital, the Dayanand Medical College and Hospital and Satguru Partap Singh Hospital in Ludhiana.

The therapy involves infusing patients suffering from COVID-19 with plasma from recovered patients.

The inter-institution coordination would be done by principal investigators who would also ensure that the entire trial is conducted in strict accordance with the ICMR protocol at each institution, a government release said.

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