Docs push home isolation, telemed for asymptomatic patients

Burdened with a spurt in Covid-19 cases, top medical practitioners on Wednesday told the state government that asymptomatic patients or those with mild symptoms should be kept under home isolation so as to free up beds in hospitals.

This was the consensus during an emergency meeting Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa chaired with experts.

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Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar said guidelines on home isolation will be issued either Wednesday night or Thursday morning.

“We’ve requested the government that if asymptomatic patients are kept at home then we can cater to others at hospitals,” Dr Sudarshan Ballal of Manipal Hospitals said.

Dr Vivek Jawali of Fortis said asymptomatic Covid-19 patients who are below 60 years of age can be managed at home. “Patients who are above 60 and have symptoms are people who need to be watched,” he said.

Allaying fears over home isolation, Dr Sharan Patil of Sparsh Hospital said asymptomatic patients did not need any treatment. “They need just isolation. If they become symptomatic and develop breathing problems or fever, they can be guided to a hospital that has availability of beds,” he said. “Also, there’s no reason for them to worry as they’ll be treated with telemedicine.”

Experts who participated in the meeting included Dr Giridhar Babu from the Public Health Foundation of India, Dr Bhujang Shetty of Narayana Nethralaya, Dr Pradeep Rangappa of Columbia Asia and Ashish Sathapathy from WHO among others.

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“The case fatality rate for India is 3.5%. It is 3.13% in Delhi, 5.86% in Mumbai and 4.49% in Maharashtra. Ten days back, it was 0.98% in 28 districts of Karnataka where we have tele-ICU. This went up to 5% in Bengaluru. Now, it is 2.08% thanks to timely measures that were taken,” Dr Rangappa explained.

According to a statement from the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO), doctors suggested that the doubling period (of cases) should be reduced and “strict enforcement of precautionary measures in closed places, close contact and crowded areas.”

The doctors also told the government that the staff strength at the field-level needed to be increased for contact tracing. Many doctors underlined that uninterrupted oxygen and supply chain for new drugs were effective for the treatment of Covid-19 patients.

“Bengaluru is at least a month behind Delhi and Mumbai. These cities have failed in some things and have succeeded in others. So, we don’t have to reinvent the wheel. We can adopt what they’ve done right,” Dr Shetty said.