HYDERABAD: Are the critical patients reaching the government designated COVID hospitals too late, resulting in most of the Coronavirus deaths in the State? A pertinent question that is being raised now, especially in the wake of two recent cases — one of a 33-year-old journalist and the other of a seven-month pregnant lady — both of which resulted in deaths in just four to six days of their admission in hospitals.
The pregnant lady had been referred by a private hospital to Gandhi Hospital and was directly shifted to the ICU on May 31. Though initially she showed signs of recovery, her condition worsened on the third day and the doctors had to put her on ventilation. But she passed away on June 3. The incident drew widespread criticism.
Similarly, the young journalist was admitted on June 3 and he breathed his last on June 7, due to the serious condition of myasthenia gravis which worsened with the COVID-19 infection. What makes one ponder over these two cases is their similarities to the cases and the data mentioned in a detailed "death audit report" prepared by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in Mumbai.
The BMC audit found that between the symptom coming in a patient to death there was a gap of 6.4 days and between hospitalisation and death there was a gap of 2.4 days.
Though no such data is available in Telangana, case studies reflect something similar. "Early detection, early diagnosis and early admissions is always better than late detection," explained a doctor from a hospital treating COVID-19 patients.
"If a patient manages to get a test only when the situation worsens and if there are severe symptoms, then chances are that his or her immunity weakens. The patient may catch secondary infection in the hospital and die sooner," he noted. Another doctor working in a COVID-19 hospital stated that this is true for the majority of the deaths seen in the State, but the issue was not with treatment.
"The problem is that patients tend to visit multiple doctors before going for a test. We are seeing cases where they have had two rounds of antibiotic treatment in different health facilities and then tested themselves and then got admitted. This worsens the disease progression," said the doctor.
It is also being seen that many patients insist on treatment in private hospitals and then come to government Covid hospitals when there is no improvement in his or her condition, making it harder for them to control the infection.