‘Timely treatment needed for Covid’

Dr. Dhruv Chaudhary, head of pulmonary and critical care medicine department at PGIMS-Rohtak, who is also Haryana’s nodal officer for Covid-19, was in the city on

Dr. Dhruv Chaudhary, head of pulmonary and critical care medicine department at PGIMS-Rohtak, who is also Haryana’s nodal officer for Covid-19, was in the city on Friday to streamline the auditing of Covid-19 deaths and to study the prospect of establishing a convalescent plasma bank in the Gurugram and Faridabad. Dr Chaudhary spoke to Archana Mishra about the necessity to get timely treatment and the limited community transmission in certain pockets of the city.

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Edited excerpts:

You are part of the task force coordinating with doctors from All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi to analyse deaths of Covid-19 patients without co-morbidities in the state. What have you learnt so far?

The study is ongoing. The initial data, however, shows a third of those who died without any co-morbidity, had obesity. Such patients had sudden death due to heart failure. They too reported of breathlessness and respiratory problems initially but there was sudden death. To get a better picture of the situation, reporting of deaths by hospitals has to be further improved.

What are the issues with reporting deaths and how do you plan to improve it?

It is critical to ascertain the root cause to reduce the toll count for which there has to be a uniform reporting pattern. We need to know when the patient was transported to the hospital, when the diagnosis and complications started. In the past, 10 patients were brought dead (to the hospital). Such a situation should not exist for which active interventions are required. Like there should be no delay in diagnosis. People are not reporting symptoms until they show any critical health issues. Minimising this time gap is also required. Also, people who are asymptomatic but have diabetes and hypertension should get themselves checked. If their blood pressure or blood sugar goes suddenly out of control, they should consult a doctor. It should be considered as a warning sign.

Testing numbers have increased and so have Covid-19 cases. Are we seeing community spread of the infection?

These tests are vigorously conducted for active surveillance, which is essential to check community spread of the coronavirus. For this, the central government conducted the sero-survey. In Haryana, especially in Gurugram, there is evidence that suggests infection was spreading at a fast pace. Certain pockets saw outbreak in large numbers. Because of the pro-active measures we have been able to contain it now. The multi-pronged approach which includes the three types of tests (RT-PCR, antigen and antibody tests) is helping us to gauge the total infection load in the city.

What is the current status on setting up of convalescent plasma bank in the city?

In Gurugram, a private hospital is offering plasma therapy. The service is not available in the government set up. The Covid-19 treatment has to be cost-effective. Teams are coordinating with Rotary blood bank and collection of people who can donate plasma has already started. The plan is to have a plasma pool, where real-time patients anyone can check the availability of the plasma. A Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) is being prepared which will be soon shared with the state government.