State mulls change in home isolation policy -75 per cent of the 36,886 active cases were in home isolation

 Covid-19 patients aged above 50 or with any health risk factor to be brought in to safe homes even if the patients are asymptomatic

Pranesh Sarkar   |   TT   |   Calcutta   |  02.11.20  :  The Mamata Banerjee government is considering a plan that focuses on care at safe homes, instead of home isolation, for Covid-19 patients aged above 50 or with any health risk factor, said a government official.

About 75 per cent of the 36,886 active cases in the state till Saturday were in home isolation, but the government has decided to be selective from now on in allowing home isolation.

“We have seen that a significant percentage of total Covid deaths were because of late hospitalisation of patients from their homes. We are trying to develop an efficient system where only risk-free people would be allowed home isolation,” said a senior state government official.

While modifying the protocol for home isolation, the state government is planning to focus on bringing people with two or more risk factors — irrespective of age group — to safe homes even if the patients are asymptomatic or having mild symptoms.

Sources have said health risk factors include any chronic disease like kidney ailment, diabetes, cardiac ailment, cancer and asthma.

“The protocol is being modified only because it

has been found that condition of Covid patients having comorbidities can deteriorate within a few hours. We want to ensure that the ‘golden hour’ is not lost on the way to a hospital,” said a senior bureaucrat.

The new protocol will come into effect very soon, said the officer.

According to the sources, the state was worried because the number of deaths could not be brought down in the past few weeks despite several attempts. On an average, 60 people died everyday across the state in the past couple of months.

While more than 80 per cent of the deceased had comorbidities, around 60 per cent of the total deceased were brought to hospital late from home isolation, said a source.

“We now want to cut down the time of transferring patients from home isolation to hospitals. As safe homes are attached to dedicated Covid hospitals and patients are monitored on a regular interval, it is expected that the death rate could be brought down significantly,” said an expert associated with the government’s initiatives.

Earlier, the government had made engagement of a caregiver mandatory while allowing home isolation to asymptomatic or mild cases. But the sources said the protocol was not followed properly across the state and hence, the death rate could not be brought down.

Now, the government has joined hands with the Indian Medical Association (IMA) to ensure that each of the patients, who are allowed to go for home isolation, remains under the supervision of a doctor.

The medical practitioner would prescribe medicine and monitor health parameters of the patient on a daily basis and would contact the authorities concerned in case the patient requires admission in the hospital.

The sources said the government had already developed 200 safe homes with 11,507 beds across the state. Right now, only 975 people are admitted to the safe homes.

“There is enough space at the safe homes to accommodate asymptomatic or mild patients with health risk factors right at the moment,” said an official.