THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With Covid-19 cases making a steady climb in the state, the health department has decided to roll out the ‘home care’ option for asymptomatic and mild cases on a trial basis. Initially, infected doctors will be allowed to choose home treatment option. At the same time, the private healthcare sector with the help of Indian Medical Association (IMA) has initiated discussions on ‘home care packages’ or ‘wraparound home care services’ to aid the patients staying at home.
“A majority of the cases will be asymptomatic or mild ones. In the long run, admitting these patients at Covid First-Line Treatment Centres or at hospitals will not be feasible. Thus they can be confined to homes. The trial run is being started based on this assessment,” said an officer with the health department.
According to the officer, a decision on extending the home treatment to more patients will be based on the success of the trial run as it would not put additional burden on healthcare facilities, patient management, health workers or medical supplies. For the government, such an option will reduce the expenditure incurred on patient care to a great extent.
Call for strategy after assessing risks
At the same time, some experts feel the home treatment option should be made available after assessing the risks involved and framing an action plan to deal with it. “One major challenge associated with home treatment will be dealing with silent hypoxia (a condition in which a person’s oxygen level in blood cells and tissues drop without any warning sign). It is more prevalent among Covid-19 patients. The success of the home treatment will depend on the effectiveness in addressing this condition,” said Dr P Gopikumar, state secretary, Indian Medical Association.
According to him, as not everyone could monitor their clinical condition and operate pulse oximetry themselves, a strategy should be put in place to address the emergencies arising out of home care. “Treating asymptomatic and mild ones at home will become inevitable in the long run. But for that, we should start preparations now. In major cities such as Delhi and Mumbai healthcare providers are coming out with special packages. Similar strategies could be applied in our state as well,” said Gopikumar.
He said talks in this regard are progressing in the private healthcare sector. An option is to pool the human resources of four or five private hospitals in an area to take care of the patients under home care, he said. At the same time, there is a demand to set up an ambulance/telemedicine network similar to that of the 108 ambulance network with a centralized control room to provide timely medical attention to those under home care.It is learnt that it was Kerala Government Medical Officers’ Association state president Dr Joseph Chacko who — during a meeting with the chief minister — expressed the willingness of doctors to undergo home treatment when they get infected.
Treatment protocol
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday said the health department has been asked to come out with a protocol for home treatment of asymptomatic patients and very mild Covid cases. He said though some concerns regarding its practicality cropped up, the all-party meet and health experts have persuaded the government to go ahead with home treatment option.