CHENNAI: Triaging COVID-19 patients at home has brought down the number of patients being admitted directly to government and private hospitals, according to the Chennai corporation's data.
Triaging at home is done for COVID patients below the age of 60 where a doctor accompanied by a staff nurse and ANM visit them, check their vitals and take note of their symptoms. Based on their symptoms, they are advised to undergo to home isolation or directed to COVID care centres or hospitals. In case of home isolation, tablets are given to them during the course of their isolation.
"By triaging at home, we reduce the risk of crowding at the screening centres and also make sure people are given timely medical advice so they don't panic and go to hospitals directly," said a corporation official.
According to the data, on Saturday, a total of 6,072 people had been reported positive from government and private labs. Of these, 3,637 underwent home triaging - 3,335 were then recommended home isolation, 163 were sent to COVID care centres and 139 were directed to hospitals.
The data also shows that 1,829 persons were screened at the screening centres. With this, the number of persons admitted directly to government and private hospitals is 606 of the total 6072.
Plea to be treated with dignity
On the other hand, the corporation staff who visit houses for triaging said that they were bearing the brunt of public frustration every day.
"When we go for home triaging, they ask us when we will come and take a CT scan. When we tell them we are not equipped for it, they get offended. It takes doctors three to four hours minimum to finish triaging the cases assigned to them. They don't understand the work that we put in," said a corporation official.
A sanitary inspector said that a sector worker (fever surveillance staff) broke down while at work.
"A family who is COVID positive accused her of infecting them with the virus since she came to check on them everyday. They asked her not to come anywhere near them again and also shouted at her till she broke down and called us for help," the inspector said.
Staff who are on the field almost everyday said that while they understand the frustration, they deserved to be treated with dignity.
"Last year, the way they treated us was much different in my opinion. This year, the frustration is high and they take it out on us. We feel like we are caught in the middle - we also put in long hours, put our lives at risk and bear the brunt of the frustration," the inspector added.