'In moderate cases, anticoagulants, steroids are mainstays of treatment'
New Delhi: As COVID-19 cases continue their sharp rise and healthcare infrastructure around the city continues to crumble, doctors and medical experts advise citizens that next to prevention, trying to manage treatment at home as much as possible, while consulting a doctor, is the best option.
According to a recent Health Ministry guideline, a moderate COVID-19 infection is identified as a patient's respiratory rate being more than 24/min, breathlessness, or oxygen saturation is 90-93 percent on room air.
A senior doctor a Hindu Rao hospital said, "One thing that definitely helps patients with low Oxygen saturation levels is lying in a prone position. Proning helps supplement oxygenation, for example, if someone has an SPO2 level 85, it can definitely go up by 5-10 per cent by proning alone".
"People should also be aware that while a healthy adult's normal blood oxygen level is 98, patients suffering from any kind of respiratory or pulmonary disease (such as COVID-19) have a normal blood oxygen level between 91 to 95. To live a comfortable life, a 90 per cent saturation is good enough", he adds. AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria had also recently explained via an Oxygen-saturation curve that a blood oxygen level of 90 and above maintains the same release capacity.
"Now, what a patient does is, when they procure an oxygen cylinder, they see their oxygen levels restored to anywhere between 90 to 95. Then, they increase the flow and open the valve fully. Though the pulse oximeter might show increased SPO2 levels, oxygen being supplied to internal organs and tissues remains the same as before. My advice is to maintain a steady flow at 90 to reduce wastage especially when resources are limited". The target SpO2 is 92-96 per cent in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The preferred device for oxygenation is a non-rebreathing face mask and 'Awake Proning' is encouraged in all patients who require supplemental oxygen therapy, Health Ministry guidelines say.
Doctors also said that Remedesivir, Favipiravir, and plasma are not as useful as people believe. Antiviral drugs, if administered at the correct time, can reduce the time that a patient has to be hospitalised, or reduce hospital stay. However, they do not treat the cause of the disease. Doctors also agree that in moderate cases, anticoagulants and steroids are the mainstays of treatment.
