Tirupati: Home isolated Covid patients get guidance from doctors

Tirupati: Home isolation for Covid positive patients has become all the more important to reduce the heavy burden on government healthcare facilities as the number of cases has been skyrocketing.

Though the government did not allow such a concept initially, there was no other go now, but to provide various alternatives for patients to get better care when the beds in government hospitals and care centres are getting exhausted. In Chittoor district, about 4,000 patients are in home isolation as of now which is about 40 per cent of total active cases of around 9,200 while the total cases in the district has reached 53,000 mark with almost 550 deaths. Following the instructions of District Collector Dr N Bharat Gupta, the officials have initiated a programme of monitoring the health condition of the Covid patients in home isolation over phone. They are saying that such an initiative was the first of its kind in the State for which six doctors were allotted who have to discharge duties in three shifts with two in each shift.

A call centre has been set up at Urban Hatt in the city and its functioning was being monitored by Joint Collector (development) V Veerabrahmam and Additional DM&HO Dr C Aruna Sulochana Devi along with some senior doctors from IMA. They mainly focus on the patient's illness, duration of home isolation, symptoms apart from other related issues. Dr Aruna Sulochana told The Hans India that it is important to know the status of all those under home isolation though almost all of them are asymptomatic or having only mild symptoms with no comorbidities. Still in some cases, they ask for home isolation saying that they have good facilities at home to become isolated. Apart from the isolation period they should know whom they have to contact if the symptoms are repeated again.

The calls from the doctors will help them to know certain things. The information regarding who triaged them for home isolation, whether lab tests were held, how they are getting milk, vegetables etc., from outside, whether the Covid deaths are reported among many other questions. The patients are happy when they get a call from a doctor asking about their well-being and they disclose all information.

However, to a question many patients seem to have replied that ANMs have never visited them and no suggestions were given. Some of them have said that they did not get home isolation kits while some others have missed some items in them.And, many of them were having no idea on whom to consult in case of recurring symptoms for whom the calls have helped certainly.