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Phone became more handy than stetho as doctors attended distress calls in Uttar Pradesh
At the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, doctors’ phones seldom stopped ringing as distress calls from patients multiplied and those seeking relief got medical advice and words of comfort from health experts
Many doctors had to pick up their cell phones even before taking their cup of morning tea all through the months when the Covid-19 pandemic was at its peak.
The callers were in panic and desperately seeking solace. In Lucknow, many doctors kept an extra battery pack to attend to such distress calls without a break.
For instance, work began as early as 7am for Prof Kauser Usman, senior faculty member at King George’s Medical University (KGMU).
“Quick response over the phone guided apt diagnosis for early impactful treatment. Secondly, speaking to a doctor made the patient confident, an important factor in fighting Covid,” said Prof Usman who guided over 500 patients over the phone.
“The months of September-October 2020 and April-May 2021 were the toughest in Lucknow,” said Dr Samir Misra, senior faculty trauma surgery (KGMU) who had spoken to over 250 patients in distress.
“Each caller had someone serious (to seek advice for) and wanted immediate relief,” he said.
“The greatest challenge on telephonic guidance was to ensure the patient has understood everything correctly. Since they (patient) and their family members were in panic, it became my responsibility to cross-check what they have understood,” said Prof Suryakant, head of the department of respiratory medicine at KGMU who was in charge of IDH Covid ward in the second wave.
The state capital has reported 2.38 lakh Covid-19 cases till now and over 50,000 people consulted doctors over the phone during this period.
“The most difficult part was to remember the medical history as every patient called in distress, expecting me to remember their clinical history, which is basic for prescribing medicine,” said Prof Usman.
Doctors across specialities took up the job and had their own challenges in dealing with different categories of panic-stricken patients belonging to various age groups. An expert in medicine, Prof Usman got calls from diabetics, too, as diabetes is a key comorbidity for Covid.
“Being a joint replacement surgeon, I got calls mostly from my patients. Striking a balance between medicines for orthopaedics and Covid was a challenge that (one) could manage,” said Dr Sandeep Kapoor, joint replacement surgeon and director of Healthcity hospital in Lucknow.
Dr Abhishek Shukla, an expert in geriatric medicine at Aastha Hospice, said, “First I had to be a patient listener and give more time to each call than what I give to one patient in the OPD. Elderly patients wanted to share a detailed explanation personally. My biggest challenge was to understand frail and needy voices over the cell phone. In fact, during the pandemic, we used cell phones to know many things that stethoscope or personal examination (otherwise) reveals.”
“We thought one or two (phone numbers) cannot meet the growing need. Hence, in April we launched 10 mobile numbers of different doctors as a helpline for consultancy. About 2500 patients connected with the IMA helpline,” said Dr PK Gupta, former president of Indian Medical Association-Lucknow.
Doctors spoke, offered medical advice and words of comfort. In a pandemic scenario, patients were largely advised to take online consultations with doctors. The state government, too, launched the e-sanjeevani telemedicine service.
Prayagraj’s Dr Debabrata Samanta, a well-known physician with over 28 years of private practice in the Sangam city, faced a unique challenge during the pandemic: His patients were contracting Covid-19 by the dozens, and he could not physically examine them. Reason: Having undergone a kidney transplant in August 2017, he was in the designated vulnerable category himself.
So, he started offering tele-consultancy to his patients, attending 50 to 80 calls a day.
“Many people called up multiple times as every dip in oxygen level, increase in body temperature or other parameters needed urgent attention,” said the 56-year-old pass out of Motilal Nehru Medical College, Prayagraj.
In July 2020, he himself contracted the Covid-19 infection and had to be admitted at the Medanta Hospital, Gurgaon, where he battled the virus bravely for 40 days and beat it in a tough fight. During this period, his wife, Dr Nivedita Samanta, a gynecologist, and one son besides brother, sister-in-law and their two daughters also contracted the infection. Despite the challenges, Dr Samanta, who was quickly back from Medanta post-recovery, again got busy extending tele-consultancy to his patients.
“I had to be back at work as patients needed me in these challenging times when general OPDs were just not running. During the peak of the second wave, I treated around 500 patients using the mobile phone and WhatsApp to prescribe medicines,” he said.
Dr Sher Mohammad, the medical officer in-charge of the Badagaon primary health centre in Varanasi, gave advice to hundreds of patients, including Covid-19 patients on the phone.
“While being in home isolation, as I tested Covid-19 positive in the first week of May, I continued to serve the patients. I gave advice to hundreds of patients on the mobile phone. The patients used to call me and seek advice. It was not an easy task because many patients panicked after testing positive. They used to ask on the phone if they would recover, how long it would take to get well and so on. I consoled them and asked them to follow the advice and guidelines. After recovering, several patients called me back and thanked me. Before testing positive, I attended the patients at the PHC.”
Dr Vidit Dixit, assistant professor in the anatomy department, looked after the Covid hospital at LLRM Medical College in Meerut as coordinator. His main task was to convince attendants to keep their patients under treatment in home isolation after examining their condition.
“I convinced many patients that they could be treated at home,” said Dr Dixit who thereafter followed up on the home isolated patients through regular phone calls or WhatsApp.
“I used to speak to home isolated patients and their attendants in family to know their condition and guide them about medication,” he said. He also counselled many patients to boost their confidence.
“It was a big challenge, but I remained composed while interacting with patients and their attendants,” said Dr Dixit, who added that a majority of patients in home isolation initially wanted to get admitted in a hospital to keep themselves under direct supervision of doctors.
In Agra, the phone of Dr Ashish Gautam, associate professor at SN Medical College’s department of medicine, kept ringing all the time as he received panic calls during the second wave of Covid-19 in April and May. “A wave of fear and panic had gripped the common man during the second wave. In many cases, over-consumption of medicines was the issue. We had to pacify them and ensure correct precautionary measures,” stated Dr Gautam.
“We had to understand the psyche of the caller as he was unable to meet the doctor in person. They were mostly in search of precautions and used to ask when they should get themselves or loved ones admitted in hospital. We used to illustrate the guidelines and parameters of different ailments,” said Dr Gautam.
“We continue to be on the phone lines. Now, the queries are about vaccination and related issues. Our main task is to eliminate fear and build confidence,” he said.
“They used to send their reports through WhatsApp, and we used to advise them. A man came from Mumbai to attend to his father and mother in Agra who had tested positive for Covid-19. He followed all our advice and got his parents well and himself too. Such cases gave us satisfaction in return,” said Dr Gautam who added that the maximum calls were received between April 10 and May 15.
