Connect Covid patients in home isolation to doctors within 24 hours, Kejriwal tells officials

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has directed officials in charge of managing Covid patients in home isolation to make sure they get connected to a doctor within 24 hours of being diagnosed.

While Delhi’s existing protocols include a call from a doctor within a day of testing positive, there has been a slip in this area over the past month as several patients who are testing positive are not getting calls from officials or doctors even days after testing positive. This means unless they have access to a doctor on phone, they are left battling the disease alone.

Sources in the Delhi government said timely calls were not being made because of the sheer number of cases Delhi was seeing over the past few weeks – an average of 25,000 a day – and in many cases test reports were inordinately delayed by labs.

Deputy CM Manish Sisodia was also present in the meeting with the chief secretary and principal secretary health.

“During the meeting, he (Kejriwal) directed that people who are undergoing treatment in home isolation would get a call from the doctor within 24 hours of being detected positive and their counselling would also begin. He also directed that a clear record should be kept of how many Covid positive patients are going to the hospital and how many are being treated in home isolation. The CM directed that patients in home isolation who do not have an oximeter will also be provided with it along with a Covid kit,” a statement released by the Delhi government said.

Delhi has 50,441 patients in home isolation at present.

Kejriwal also told officials that there was an immediate need to strengthen the home isolation system to ensure patients get timely advice and treatment.