Nearly 30% Covid patients in Navi Mumbai recovered at home

Nearly 30 per cent of the total Covid cases in Navi Mumbai never required hospitalisation. They have recovered through home isolation and treatment over a phone

Nearly 30 per cent of the total Covid cases in Navi Mumbai never required hospitalisation. They have recovered through home isolation and treatment over a phone call from the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) doctors.

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As per the figures of November 3, out of the 48,311 Covid positive cases, 14,346 (29.69 per cent) have recovered at home. Of these home-isolated patients, 6,226 were females, 8,117 males and one transgender.

Dr Ajay Gadade, health officer, NMMC, said, “When a person is found positive, he is given the option to get admitted or home isolate. Home isolation is allowed only if he has mild symptoms and has a room at home for himself with a separate bathroom that would be accessed only by him. If he falls under those two criteria, we let the patient get home isolated and provide the medicines.

“Regular calls are made from our call centre to check on the patient and if necessary, a doctor on call is also made available. We ask the patient to regularly monitor the SPO2 level. Those who don’t have the pulse oximeter, we ask them to buy as keeping a tab of oxygen levels is very important in Covid positive patients.”

A total of 4.06 lakh calls have been made by the call centre till now. Of these, 1.64 lakh were made to the home-isolated patients, 1.26 lakh to co-morbid patients and 1.15 lakh for post-Covid care.

Overall, 8.54 lakh minutes were spent over calls, of which 3.45 lakh were spent with home-isolated patients, 2.65 lakh with co-morbid patients and 2.42 lakh with post-Covid patients. Of the total 4.06 lakh calls made, 4,759 calls were transferred to doctors for further guidance. Out of these, 2,155 were of the home-isolated patients, 644 of co morbid patients and 1,960 of post-Covid patients.

“The call centre calls twice a day to the patients who are home isolated. Every call is recorded. If the patient seems to have developed any complications, further necessary step is taken,” assistant municipal commissioner Sanjay Kakade said.

Ajay Moghe, a 45-year-old resident of Nerul, a mariner and a national badminton player, recently found himself Covid positive and chose to be home isolated at his residence in Sector 6, Nerul.

Moghe, a health conscious person, plays badminton daily at least for two hours and was shocked to test positive. He chose to be home isolated.

“I received calls from the NMMC checking on my health updates. I have always been a person who took care of the vitamin supplements, but I was still infected. It was only because of the healthy lifestyle and proper precautions I took after finding myself positive that I could recover without passing on the virus to any of my family members,” Moghe said.

He isolated himself the day he felt he cannot play his favourite sport for two hours and felt tired. The test was done much later, but till then he kept himself isolated from his family and friends.

“The day we got him isolated, I purchased disposable spoons, plates and glasses. While he stayed in a room, I stayed with my mother-in-law in her room and kids were in their room. After every meal, he would sanitise the plates he used and put in the garbage bag. Before keeping out the garbage bag for disposal, the bag was sanitised again. Healthy food, timely medicines, good amount of rest and isolation helped him recover. Home isolation treatment is possible and it’s also possible to not pass on the virus to family members by acting at the right time,” his wife Mugdha said.