Gandhi Hospital doctors go the extra mile

Gandhi Hospital doctors go the extra mile
Even as cases surge, the doctors manage to save over 600 critically ill Covid patients with Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome

More than 600 critically ill Covid-19 patients who suffer from Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) have been saved by the doctors at Gandhi Hospital. It was a herculean task for them as there was an increase of Covid-19 positive patients from across Telangana.

Though there were high odds, 600 such patients have recovered while another 300 are under ICU care at Gandhi Hospital so far. Even in countries like United States and United Kingdom, the survival percentage of Covid-19 positive cases with ARDS is only 20-25 per cent.

The Gandhi Hospital doctors, on an average, are also roughly dealing with 300 Covid-19 positive patients who do not recover in the stipulated recovery period of 14 days.  Free ICU facilities including ventilator care, which are prohibitively expensive at corporate hospitals, are being provided free of cost.

The Covid-19 positive patient group at the hospital is very large. Few of them are recovering even after a month or sometimes even more. As a result, there is a lot of pressure on availability of beds at Gandhi Hospital.

Hence, the Department of Public Health and Family Welfare has decided to implement home isolation for mild, pre-symptomatic and asymptomatic patients, there are nearly 200 asymptomatic Covid-19 patients still under the hospital care.

Senior doctors said that once such asymptomatic patients were admitted, they cannot be discharged. They must continue to get treated till doctors were certain that they do not spread the virus once discharged.

The healthcare workers have been reporting for duties non-stop since March at Gandhi Hospital, for safety, the hospital management has been strictly implementing the ‘one week work, next week quarantine’ for the care givers. Those on duty for a week have been split in three shifts to ensure there was round-the-clock service for Covid-19 patients.

‘Important for patients to have positive frame of mind’

Since there is a negative perception towards Gandhi Hospital, the doctors are doing our best to provide proper health care facilities to Covid-19 patients. He doctors have observed that even positive patients who get admitted to Gandhi Hospital get admitted in the hospital with a lot of negativity.

It’s very important for patients to have a positive frame of mind which will help in recovering quickly. Society must also realize that care givers at Gandhi Hospital are putting in day and night for the service of poor.

Negativity will only drive the common man away from government hospitals, which will further complicate the ongoing pandemic. In the end, it’s the poor who are going to suffer from this negativity.

Discharges and home isolation

Persons with mild Covid-19 symptoms are advised to take home isolation for 10 days. After ten days, chances of viral replication and spread from positive patients are less.

After that, doctors are instructing such patients to be very careful for the next 28 days like wearing masks and following other safety precautions. Moderate and critical cases at Gandhi Hospital are taking at least 20 days to a month to recover.

Due to their clinical conditions, they are unable to recover within the stipulated 14-days. Doctors are taking a lot of care to ensure that the discharged patients do not infect after getting discharged.

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