Lucknow: Lapses in home isolation landing many in trouble

LUCKNOW: Failure to adhere to the dos and don’ts for home isolation is landing many in the hospital, suggests a situation analysis undertaken by the state medical education department.
“Feedback from medical colleges has revealed that several patients under home isolation who were not able to monitor their health condition correctly had landed in hospital in serious condition. Experts are of the view that such patients had either failed to judge the seriousness of their symptoms or were not adhering to the prevention protocols properly. A good number of them also included those hiding their comorbid conditions from the health teams,” said additional chief secretary, medical education, Dr Rajneesh Dube.

As of Wednesday, 25,269 of the total 51,317 active cases are under home isolation. Sources at KGMU and SGPGI revealed that 8-10 such cases were being attended to by their teams daily.
The matter was also taken up during the meeting of Team 11 on Wednesday.
“The CM has expressed concern over home isolated positive patients ignoring the warning signs and reporting late to health centres. He urged such patients to immediately get in touch with health officials on feeling mildly uncomfortable besides giving specific instructions to strengthen the monitoring of patients under home isolation,” said additional chief secretary (home) Awanish Awasthi.
Experts noted that when Covid-19 progresses from mild stage towards a higher one, a good number of patients might need oxygen support which is not possible at home. “A number of patients press the alarm bell when they start feeling breathless. Considering the time that goes in transportation, many of these may start to deteriorate by the time they reach a facility. Any delay in between can prove fatal,” explained Dr Dube.
Experts suggest strictest adherence to the health monitoring protocol to ensure that no one lands in trouble.