The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has started preparing an area-wise list of general practitioners (GPs) to monitor COVID-19 patients in home isolation. The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) will set up ward-wise war rooms for monitoring the home isolation patients.

Pune Municipal Commissioner, Vikram Kumar said that he has a meeting with IMA doctors, they discussed the process of treating patients in home isolation. In only 45 days, the active coronavirus cases have risen from 1,250 to 33,000 and most of them are in home isolation. Kumar said that they will set up ward-wise war rooms and the doctors will check on patients and assess their condition.

According to district health authorities, almost 44,867 patients are in home isolation in Pune district as on 30th March. In areas, which are under PMC, nearly 27,957 people are in home isolation. In hospitals, there are a total number of 725 critical patients and 3,016 patients are on oxygen support.

Chairman of the Hospital Board of India, IMA Pune chapter, Dr Sanjay Patil said that they have urged their IMA members to make an area wise list of physicians who can treat and manage COVID-19 patients online. A session will be conducted with doctors to update them related to the new developments in COVID-19 management.

Patil said that a detailed plan is necessary for the possibility if a patient’s condition worsens in home isolation. IMA members are not attached to big hospitals and hence are not able to find hospital beds. So, there should be a proper referral system drawn by PMC authorities to direct home isolation patients to hospitals in case of emergency.

Dr Jitendra Oswal, Deputy Medical Superintendent Bharati hospital said that home isolation should be done under strict monitoring and supervision by doctors. There is a tendency to postponement diagnosis as home isolation protocols are not followed properly. Strict isolation has to be ensured to break the transmission chain. Expert doctors should monitor the symptoms by checking the oxygen saturation levels after a six-minute walk test, which is very important. Often, the early warning signs are missed such as onset of new symptom or saturation levels to be checked after a six-minute walk test.

Patil further said that after testing positive through an RT-PCR test, the patient does not come for a follow up and get the necessary tests to evaluate their condition. Over here the patients’ relatives play an important and responsible role.

Dr Pradeep D’Costa, chief intensivist at KEM hospital and Sahyadri Super Specialty hospital said that in all hospitals, doctors have observed patients come very late and at a critical stage. Their oxygen saturation levels have dropped or CT scores are worse. 

Dr Parikshit Prayag, infectious diseases specialist at Deenanath Mangeshkar hospital, said that the number of patients in home isolation is gradually increasing and almost 40 percent from their outpatient department are youths. Many of them do well but as compared to the first wave of coronavirus, more infectivity is observed among youths.

The top 10 districts with active COVID-19 cases in the country are Pune (59,475 cases), Mumbai (46,248 cases), Nagpur (45,322 cases), Thane (35,264 cases), Nashik (26,553 cases), Aurangabad (21,282 cases), Bengaluru Urban (16,259 cases), Nanded (15,171 cases), Delhi (8,032 cases) and Ahmednagar (7,952 cases).

Source: The Indian Express