Committee calls for daily monitoring of hospitalised Comorbid patients in Kolkata, Howrah

Patients with comorbidities admitted in hospitals and have incidentally tested positive for Covid are in need of more intensive monitoring of their primary ailments by experts from respective fields, a committee set up by the health department has suggested.

The committee, headed by Gopal Krishna Dhali, head of the gastroenterology department at SSKM Hospital, drew up its recommendations after visiting government hospitals in Kolkata and Howrah on Saturday.

The panel monitored the treatment protocol of Covid patients admitted in the hospitals, checked their health conditions, particularly of those suffering from severe comorbidities, and interacted with doctors.

The committee has said the treatment of pre-existing conditions of those who have tested positive during routine tests before admission was getting neglected in most cases.

Comorbidities have caused the death of a number of patients who were hospitalised during the current Covid wave. The committee has said that it has come across several instances of treatment of primary ailments getting neglected on the pretext of Covid.

The team visited the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital and Sambhu Nath Pandit Hospital (which houses several departments of SSKM Hospital) in Kolkata and TL Jaiswal Hospital in Howrah.

“Specialists from respective fields, including cardiology, neurology, gastroenterology, trauma care and orthopedics, will have to visit patients in need of their care, daily and not once a week. That will facilitate more intensive monitoring of the diseases," Dhali, chairman of the Covid Management Committee, said.

“Treatment has to be a dynamic process. In most cases, Covid patients who died suffered from severe pre-existing diseases. Regular monitoring can stop such deaths."

Officials in the health department said the death toll had gradually been on the rise. Between January 10 and 15, the death toll shot up from 16 to 39.

Dhali’s committee has recommended adequate utilisation of resources by shifting critically ill Covid patients from secondary healthcare units to medical colleges and hospitals that have superspeciality units and specialists.

The committee has suggested that gastroenterologists, for instance, regularly visit Covid patients with pre-existing conditions such as gastritis, pancreatitis or cirrhosis. Cardiologists also can take a call whether a Covid patient with a heart ailment can be discharged with the advice to turn up later for the treatment.

“Faculty members from superspecialty units will have to visit patients regularly and take a call whether they need to stay even after the problems related to Covid have been addressed,” Dhali said.