NESCO jumbo centre in Goregaon to start post Covid-19 OPD

By the end of next week, the NESCO jumbo Covid entre at Goregaon, run by the Brihanmumbai Municpal Corporation (BMC) will start post-Covid Out Patient Department (OPD) for recovered patients who need attention for health complications, a top official said.

Specialists from major hospitals run by the civic body will attend to the patients.

“As the number of Covid-19 patients has now decreased, we can use the manpower strength to treat patients who are having complications after recovery,” said Dr Neelam Andrade, dean of Nair Dental Hospital and in-charge of the jumbo centre. “We already have specialists from KEM (King Edward Memorial) and Cooper Hospital (Dr R N Cooper Municipal General Hospital) who can attend patients on OPD basis.”

As HT reported on Monday, several Covid-19 patients after recovery are developing long-term complications like breathlessness, fatigue, neurological disorder, lung fibrosis, heart diseases and numbness among others. This also leads to the additional economic burden on them as patients have to keep taking treatment for months.

Additionally, the jumbo centre which provides treatment to mild and moderate Covid-19 infected patients is also planning to start a post-Covid-19 rehabilitation centre which will include lung-related exercises and physiotherapy. Patients will be provided treatment at free of cost.

“I am in the process of procuring few equipment that would help in providing physiotherapy to patients that but it would take a week or so,” Andrade said.

Health activists have welcomed the civic body’s move stating that such a centre will help in faster recovery and will be affordable to poor people. “Covid-19 is causing long-term health impacts on patients. But due to lack of rehabilitation programs, many poor people are opting out of it. Considering the growing cases of health complications, it is the need of the hour that the government focuses on post Covid-19 health infrastructure,” said Dr Abhijit More, health activist.