BENGALURU: Even as the state government is struggling to reduce the Covid-19 mortality rate and bring it down below 1 per cent, going by the statistics, it appears that several people have not been able to access healthcare at the right time and are succumbing to the virus.
In July alone, 147 people have died at their homes and 70 have been brought dead to hospitals. Dr Satyanarayana Mysore, HoD, Pulmonology, Manipal Hospital, said that the stigma attached to the virus is one of the major reasons for such deaths.
“Everybody is worried about objection from resident welfare associations, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike creating a commotion when coming to pick them up in ambulances, not finding a bed and also the welfare of their kids in their absence. Such stigma is leading to people not getting themselves tested in time.
We need to work with more compassion and treat this as an everyday affair,” said Dr Mysore, who is also part of the tele-ICU team set up by the state government to monitor high-risk Covid cases. “I have observed extremely wealthy people opting for all tests except for coronavirus. The second reason for deaths at home or people being brought dead to the hospital is delayed presentation.
Early diagnosis leads to better outcomes. The decision to stay at home cannot be taken by a patient and should be done with the concurrence of a government doctor, who will do risk stratification,” he said.
Dr Trilok Chandra, who heads the Covid Critical Care Support Committee, said that 230 such deaths have occurred.
“Such patients usually resort to self-medicating at home with over-the-counter drugs. They go to smaller clinics or nursing homes, and approach a hospital only when their situation worsens, but it would be too late by then. The deaths at home could be because of other comorbidities and patients test positive after death,” he said. He denied that such deaths are because of patients being denied treatment due to paucity of beds. “The bed situation has improved in Bengaluru, and that cannot be the reason. These deaths have happened in other parts of Karnataka too,” he said.