Crack team's e-rounds to high-risk groups

Mysuru would have lost a 72-year-old Covid-19 and Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) patient had the experts of e-rounds, a Critical Care Support Unit constituted by the state government and consisting of government and private hospital doctors constituted to address critically-ill patients, not suggested sepsivac vaccine.

Today, the patient has not only recovered but ready to be discharged from the hospital. Since its constitution on April 14, the e-rounds, headed by IAS officer Dr K V Trilokchandra, has ensured that nearly 40 of the 160 critically-ill patients have recovered. While 22 (as on April 30) have lost their lives in the state, the remaining patients are in various stages of recovery.

The e-rounds team consists of four government-appointed doctors, principal secretary for Health & Family Welfare, Commissioner of health, medical experts from Columbia Asia and Manipal Hospitals and interns from Ambedkar Medical College, KIMS of Bengaluru, M S Ramaiah Medical College Hospital and Rajarajeswari Medical College & Hospital.

The team has been monitoring critically-ill patients admitted to 14 Covid-19 centres across the State. The war-room set up in Bengaluru conducts a video conference with all the 14 hospitals two times a day to take stock of the condition of the critically-ill Covid-19 patients many of whom are suffering hypertension, TB and HIV. They are also monitoring pregnant women, children below the age of 10 and patients above 50 years who are suffering Covid-19.

Speaking to DH, Dr Trilokchandra said: “The war room at Bengaluru maintains a parallel case sheet of every critical patient in the state. The expert team interacts with the local doctors four times a day and takes stock of the treatment being given to each of them. If required, the experts also suggest the next line of treatment that can improve the condition of the patients,” he said and added that the main intention of the e-rounds is to ensure that not a single ICU patient is lost to Covid-19.

Along with medical interventions, the e-round team has also begun interacting with district administration and district health officers to ensure the doctors and medical staff receive all the required equipment and medicines to treat the patients.

Dr Trilokchandra said the team has taken telemedicine facility to a new level, where doctors from private hospitals have also joined the hands to fight this pandemic. As and when required, they take inputs from medical experts from other private hospitals also including paediatricians.

Doctors working at the ground-level say that e-round has brought accountability as there are honest per-reviewing and suggestions by the experts in saving critically ill patients. “This set-up should continue even after winning over the Covid-19 pandemic so as to ensure that no critically-ill patient is lost due to lack of proper treatment,” said one of the doctors who is part of the e-round.