State Health dept issues fresh instructions to hosps

Kolkata: State Health department has instructed all the government-run and private Covid hospitals that the doctors and nursing staff members treating Covid patients have to maintain some parameters and record their observations thrice a day besides taking proper history of other ailments and comorbidities.

The health department has issued a fresh advisory clearly stating how the doctors and nurses have to record the developments of the patients health conditions.

The hospitals have been instructed that the doctors or nurses have to record if any symptoms of the patients deteriorate in the course of the treatment which include the increasing of temperature, rapid fluctuation of oxygen level in blood, major changes in the blood pressure, pulse respiratory rate, urine output, sound of breathing or if the patients report drowsiness. Senior health department officials believe that monitoring of these aspects may help the hospitals to control the mortality rate.

The advisory also said "The patients with confirmed mild Covid must be isolated to home or Safe Homes, to break the change of transmission. If there is no adequate space for home isolation or no appropriate caregiver is present in the same house, patients with mild disease should be managed at Safe Homes."

The advisory further mentions that patients can be managed symptomatically along with vitamins like vitamin C, D and micronutrients like zinc. Specific treatment with antivirals like Ivermectin and Doxycycline combination or Hydroxychloroquine have been suggested. A patient in Safe Home must be shifted to a hospital if the oxygen level in blood drops beyond a certain limit or if the patients complaint about serious drowsiness or of chest X-ray shows bilateral infiltrate/unilateral infiltrate.

The health department also asked the Covid hospitals that mild symptoms or asymptomatic cases admitted in Safe Homes can be discharged from Safe Homes after 10 days when the patient reports no fever.

"These recommendations, if properly practiced, will improve patient outcomes. During the subsequent visits teams will specifically check if these suggestions have been implemented," reads the advisory.