Covid Care Network to begin Siliguri work

SNKHA GHOSH, SNS, 20 July 2020, Siliguri: Covid Care Network (CCN), which includes Covid -19 survivors, are all set to guide Covid- 19 patients who are in home isolation in Siliguri. A helpline number for the same will be introduced tomorrow.

The network, which includes cured Covid-19 patients, especially health-care workers and doctors, has been formed on 8 July in Siliguri after Kolkata, with an aim to guide and counsel people infected by the contagion and to explain queriesof other people related to Covid-19.

The organisation is acting in association with 105 other voluntary groups for the mission.

It will work by maintaining coordination with the health department and will take initiatives from testing to doorstep ambulance for admission, if their condition worsens.

In Siliguri, where the number of Covid cases is climbing steadily, many people who are asymptomatic and have mild symptoms can be treated at home after being recommended by the health department. The department also monitors the health status of those patients. "However, in lack of proper medical Knowledge, they sometimes find it difficult to manage." sources said. They added that 120 persons had been under home isolation treatment, of which 50 have been cured so far.

"Maintaining coordination with the health department, the network will reach out to the patients through the helpline number and provide medical consultations and psycho -social support through experts of different disciplines," said the CCN coordinator and associate professor of pathology at the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital (NBMCH), Dr Kalyan Khan.

Apart from Dr Khan, the panel of doctors in the CCN includes Dr Anirban Roy; the head of the department of medicine at the NBMCH, Dr Dipanjan Bandopadhyay, dean of student affairs at the NBMCH and gynecologist Dr Sandip Sengupta, and NBMCH nursing staff Anjali Rai.

Explaining how the helpdesk (180088918171 will function, Dr Khan said postgraduate trainees and house staff of the NBMCH will be engaged to respond to callers. The health department has already imparted training to the volunteers.

"The helpline will work 24x7 to respond to callers on any issue. Volunteers will guide the patients under home isolation on how to use the pulse oximeters, which alert the patients of any drop in oxygen levels, a nearly sign of deteriorating health. If the doctors feel the patients need to undergo tests or admission, they will inform the health department." he added, the CCN also plans to distribute pulse oximeters for people of the economically weaker section, which they will be able to use till the period of home isolation.

Darjeeling district Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr Pralay Acharya said the organisation will work following government guidelines." We have trained them. Many doctors, house staff, and interns are associated with this. They will work following the government guidelines." he said.

An organization called Siliguri Fights Corona has welcomed the move.

"The active involvement of doctors to help the patients under home isolation is a very positive step," said the joint coordinator of the organization, Animesh Bose.