BENGALURU: The World Health Organization has urged countries to prioritise rehabilitation for medium and long-term consequences of Covid and to gather information on “long Covid” more systematically. While healthcare experts and doctors recommend that Karnataka should set up post-Covid care centres at all district hospitals, patients who have recovered from the infection have faced complications as they are not aware of such care.
“Dubbed ‘long Covid’, estimates suggest that nearly 75 per cent of patients who suffered from severe forms of infection return to hospitals complaining of chest pain, shortness of breath, fatigue, stress and anxiety. It is important for the state to set up post-care centres. But what was suggested by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare was post-Covid care at home, taking Ayush medicines, drinking hot water, performing yoga etc. This is not enough for patients who were symptomatic and had ICU stay during Covid,” said a senior doctor from a Covid care hospital in Bengaluru, on condition of anonymity.
Dr Manjunath, Director, Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences, said that patients who had an ICU stay do come back with complications, majorly related to residual lung involvement or remote involvement of cardiac or pancreatic issues. “Evaluation for residual problems will be necessary and we also need to counsel them for psychological issues. Such patients complain of breathlessness, fatigue, body pain etc. We need to evaluate them for certain tests, like Pulmonary Function Test, six-minute walk test, which show cardiac involvement, and B-Dimer tests, whose values if very high will show clot formation in arteries etc. For these, it is better to have post-Covid care units at all hospitals,” he added.
All that is needed to set up such centres is a pulmonologist, a physician and a psychologist. “These three doctors, along with some of the tests I have suggested, can assess the patient and follow up on any post-Covid complications,” he said.State Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar in November last year had announced that post-Covid care and rehabilitation centres would be set up in state-run hospitals in all the 30 districts. He had even inaugurated a centre at JSS Hospital in Mysuru. But no such centres were set up at any other place. Department sources said, “The focus was more on prevention and cure of Covid. Also, lack of funding for post-Covid care didn’t take the plan forward. There were no particular guidelines too from ICMR.”
Dr Satyanarayana Mysore, Senior Pulmonologist and Head of the department, Sleep Medicine at Manipal Hospital, Bengaluru said there is a systematically planned post-Covid care setup at the hospital. All the patients who have recovered from Covid at Manipal Hospital are called for a follow-up. If a patient complains of any pulmonary issues or sleep disorders, which are common after recovering from Covid, then they are put on a 12-week pulmonary rehabilitation care programme.
Under this, the patient is assessed and graded exercises are taught to redevelop and strengthen the lungs. “The patients are also taught sleep resynchronisation strategies, bright light therapy etc to ensure they get back to their sleep routine. We do doppler scans to rule out any clots in the lung, and we also conduct lung function and diffusion study,” he said.