Shripad Naik stable, no need to shift him to Delhi: Goa CM

PANAJI: Ayush minister Shripad Naik’s health condition improved on Tuesday and a team of doctors from All India Institute of Medical Sciences and Armed Forces Command Hospital, who examined him, decided to continue his treatment in Goa.
“His (Naik’s) health is stable and there is no need to shift him to AIIMS in Delhi,” chief minister Pramod Sawant said.
Naik, who is also the junior defence minister, has been undergoing treatment at a private hospital after he tested positive for Covid-19 on August 12.
“His oxygen saturation level is satisfactory. The team of expert doctors have told us that Naik will take at least three weeks to recover (from his lung infection),” Goa Medical College and Hospital dean S M Bandekar told TOI after the Delhi doctors had examined Naik.
On Monday, Sawant had said Naik had contracted lung infection and the expert team of doctors will decide on the future course of action after examining him on Tuesday.
The experts—critical care and pulmonary doctors—were air dashed to Goa after Naik’s oxygen saturation level dropped on Monday morning and had come prepared to medically evacuate him if needed.
Naik, who had tested negative when he underwent a TrueNat test on Monday, underwent an RT-PCR test on Tuesday morning as per the protocol.
Bandekar also said the team of expert doctors have advised against administering another dose of plasma therapy for Naik as he had tested negative under TrueNat.
“Since the disease is not active, they said he is not required to be given plasma again,” he said.
Naik, who was critical last week, was administered plasma therapy and had shown marked improvement. Health minister Vishwajit Rane had said last week that it was only due to plasma therapy that they were able to save Naik.
“He is comparatively better than Monday and his breath holding time is also good,” Shekhar Salkar, chief of clinical services at Manipal Hospitals, where Naik is undergoing treatment, told TOI.
“Naik continues to be on non-invasive ventilation (NIV), which will be tapered off slowly,” he said.
Salkar said the experts have suggested that the state government could request AIIMS to send a specialist to monitor Naik’s health for at least a week.
Naik’s son Sidhesh also expressed satisfaction about the treatment given to his father. “He is much better today,” he said.
The team of doctors included Dr Rajeshwari, head of critical care medicine and Dr Anant Mohan, head of pulmonary medicine from AIIMS, and Lt Col Munish Kumar (transplant anaesthesiologist) and Lt Col M Shyam (critical care specialist) from Armed Forces Command Hospital, Delhi.
The team is expected to leave for Delhi on Wednesday morning.