For comorbid +ve cases: Hosps to get units to treat non-Covid issues

KOLKATA: To ensure that specialised treatment for other ailments do not get affected in case of elderly comorbid Covid patients due to their transfer to Covid wards after testing positive for the virus, the state Health department chalks out plans for setting up separate units within the departments for taking care of such patients requiring treatment in other disciplines.

It has often been found that patients with various other critical ailments are shifted to Covid ward when they test positive for Covid.

As a result, the specialised treatment gets hampered in the Covid ward. It mostly happens in case of elderly comorbid patients.

The state Health department has been considering the idea of setting up Covid isolation ward in various departments of some of the medical colleges in the city.

The proposal may be implemented if the situation demands so. The daily Covid infection has been on the decline for the past two weeks. Both the daily infected and the active cases have been seeing a sharp fall in the past few days. On Monday, Bengal registered single-day Covid cases below 2,000.

The Covid management committee, which was formed by the Health department, had earlier pointed out that it must be ensured that old ailments of elderly Covid patients were not neglected.

Previous ailments must be kept under control otherwise the health condition of the Covid patients would be complicated further.

According to sources, nearly 80 per cent of patients tested positive for Covid after they came to the hospitals for treatment of other ailments.

This has been termed as 'incidental finding'. In some hospitals, the number is even much higher.

Most of the Covid infected patients undergoing treatment with comorbidities are elderly citizens. Many of them are requiring critical care support.

A senior Health department official said specialised doctors have been visiting the Covid wards of the hospitals only to provide specialised care to the patients, who are mostly elderly and therefore require treatment in other disciplines.