State to employ at least 17k docs to monitor patients in home isolation

Kolkata: In its endeavour to ensure that the patients in home isolations are given proper attention and avoid fatality by following proper medication on time, the state Health department has issued a detailed guideline on how the Covid infected patients in home isolation would be managed by the doctors and the local administration.

Moreover, to strengthen the whole mechanism of carrying out a proper surveillance, the Health department has already decided to employ 17,000 doctors whose primary job would be monitoring the treatment of Covid infected patients at home isolation.

The decision was taken last week after the health department found that the patients in home isolation were not always following the government norms. There have been cases where the affected patients had ignored the signs of complications in the initial stages as a result their health condition deteriorated later.

According to the new guideline, each Covid patient in home isolation will be under the coverage of a doctor with whom he/she can communicate. The family members will be provided appropriate guidance on testing and precautionary measures. Timely shifting of the patients would be carried out based on the alert generated by the doctor who is taking care of the particular patient.

Indian Medical Association (IMA), the biggest organization of doctors would be training the doctors. The first training would be conducted on November 7. Expansion of the pool of doctors would be done in coordination with the local authorities of IMA.

Each day local health department officials of the concerned districts will prepare lists of positive patients in each municipal or panchayat area with their details and the data would be sent to the civic bodies. Local health administration or the civic bodies would verify availability of engagement of a supervising physician. The name and the contact number of the physician will be recorded accordingly. "The list of patients in home isolation with an unmet need would be shared with the secretary of the tagged IMA branch for needful tagging and subsequent sharing of the same with the health authorities at the local level. IMA branch secretary will have a list of doctors who will facilitate the treatment of home isolation patients. Members of Association of Physicians of India (API) will give further consultancy if needed. The treating physicians can charge fees from the patients as per norms being worked out by the IMA state branch," reads the guideline.

IMA branch secretary will provide a choice of doctors in a particular area and a pager guide to the patient. Patient can choose his/her physician from the list and will be in touch with him/her. The concerned physician will inform local health officials in case of hospitalization or

shifting of patients to 'Safe Homes'