Govt bats for home-based treatment for Covid-19 patients

The rapid spike in the number of Covid-19 cases, 75% of which are asymptomatic, has prompted the government to mull over a plan to allow home-based treatment.

The plan would only come into effect after all the 17,705 beds at Covid care centres are filled to the capacity. Senior BBMP officials said asymptomatic patients will be accommodated at the Covid-19 care centres, while those with cold, fever/cough will be sent to dedicated Covid Health Centres. Patients in a critical condition will be sent to dedicated Covid hospitals.

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An official said with the sharp spike in the cases, the Haj Bhavan with 430 beds has been filled and the 400-bed Ayurvedic hospital belonging to SriSri Ravi Shankar on Kanakapura Road has also been filled.

“We’re preparing Koramangala Indoor Stadium with 250 beds and the GKVK campus hostels and Horticulture University with 1,000 beds. In Hotels will also be prepared with 600 beds in a couple of days,” he said.

The government also decided to arrange 7,000 beds in Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC), 3000 beds in Palace Grounds, 750 beds in Jnana Bharathi University and 250 beds in Dayananda Sagar University. All these places have been transformed into COVID-19 Care Centres, where only asymptomatic patients will be treated.

If the number of patients exceeds the additional beds being prepared, asymptomatic Covid-19 patients will then be asked to stay at home and the authorities will provide medicines at their doorsteps.

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The officer said BBMP has outsourced the task of providing beds, cots and food for the patients. Due to heavy costs, the 7,000 and 3,000 patients at BIEC and Palace Grounds may have to sleep on the mats, he said, adding that scientific disposal of the beds will also be a problem.

Rising cases have already forced the state government to home quarantined primary and secondary contacts of patients, instead of sending them to institutional quarantine. They will turn the institutional quarantine centres into Covid-19 care Centres. If that is also filled, they will keep the patients in home quarantine.

Commissioner briefs council meeting Briefing the members at the BBMP council meeting, commissioner BH Anil Kumar said the decision for home treatment has been taken after suggestions from experts about treating asymptomatic patients.

“Initially, all Covid-19 patients were treated at hospitals. Now, we’ve set up 22 CCCs to treat asymptomatic patients with 17,705 beds. This helps in using hospital infrastructure to treat only patients in serious conditions,” Kumar said.

Regarding spike in cases, the commissioner said those aged above 60 and those with comorbidity conditions are becoming vulnerable to Covid-19. “The infection rate among the younger population is very low,” he added.

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Private labs have been directed to upload testing reports directly on the ICMR website and then inform the patient. BBMP and health officials will then visit the patients at home and take them to care centres or hospitals.

Information on the availability of beds and hospitals are available at ICMR’s website. The BBMP has hired 88 ambulances and deployed ten of them in each zone. Kumar also said that the state government has asked private hospitals to make 2,000 beds available to Covid-19 patients. Private hospitals have also been warned not to charge more than the medical charges fixed by the state government.

While only 2,000 tests had been done earlier, the numbers have been increased to 5,000. The government has declared Rs 45 crore for Bengaluru.