CHENNAI: Even as the State battles the COVID-19 pandemic, the death count in the month of May alone here stands at 33. Nearly 10 of them were admitted to hospitals in the last hour, while six died on the day of admission, and five in the next few days. So, would they have been cured if diagnosed early?
“Late admissions can be one of the reasons, but the co-morbidity factor is a major one for COVID deaths. If a stage IV cancer patient comes in the last hour, it may be hard to treat him,’’ said Dr TS Selvavinayagam, Director of Public Health.
A 65-year-old COVID patient in Kanniyakumari, with stage IV pancreatic cancer was admitted to the government hospital there on the morning of May 9. He died the same day at 9:40 pm. Similarly, a 43-year-old COVID patient from Tiruvallur, with blood cancer was admitted to RGGGH on May 11, and died on the same day.
The late admissions, however, does not just affect older ones but young people too. A 36-year-old COVID positive woman in Chennai with Diabetes Mellitus and Bronchial Asthma was admitted to RGGGH on May 9 and she died on the same day.
Why do people come in late?
A senior doctor at RGGGH, on condition of anonymity said, the private hospitals do not take any patients with co-morbidity and symptoms of COVID. “For cancer, kidney-related illnesses, and other comorbidities, except for Apollo Hospitals, I don’t think anyone else is taking in patients. With nowhere to go, these patients come to government hospitals in the last minute,’’ he said.
The doctor added that private hospitals not attending to patients, has increased the influx in government hospitals. However, apart from this, there could be other issues why patients may turn up late to hospitals, said experts.
Dr Subramanian Swaminathan of Gleneagles Global Health City, an expert on infectious diseases said, “Sometimes, people are petrified to visit hospitals and they may ignore mild symptoms. Limited mobility too could be a factor.”
He added that the right intervention would be to educate people on the importance of early testing. “People with diabetes would have a higher risk because the condition poses risk to the heart as well,’’ said the doctor.