Taking on covid-19
Fighting the war against corona has been quite an uphill task. Both in Jammu and as well in Kashmir the administration is trying certain options to get over the crisis but the measures are proving to be too little and too late as well.
One such issue that was otherwise overlooked rather ignored by the administration was the state of the healthcare infrastructure in both the divisions. Soon after anyone was declared positive for the virus he was either rushed to a hospital or a quarantine centre without even ascertaining the real requirement.
This phenomenon led to overcrowding of hospitals and quarantine centres across the UT, forcing the administration to look for other measures. The covid-19 management has proven beyond doubt that it has to be done on scientific lines and requirements.
A fewer number of covid-19 positive cases need hospitalization. This phenomenon was observed across the globe as people struggled to cope up with the challenges covid-19 put up before them. In most of the cases the management of covid-19 required strict isolation of the patients with utmost hygiene being maintained and special care provided on the dietary needs of the patient as well.
This meant that since covid-19 has no cure at present the disease can be managed in most of the cases with the facilities that are present in almost all households across Jammu and Kashmir.
Putting it in simple terms meant that with little bit of awareness among the people, the positive cases could have been treated at home and only those who needed medical intervention could have been shifted to hospitals and healthcare facilitates.
But all this was ignored leading to a crisis like situations in hospitals and quarantine centres which are presently gasping for breath and so are the people who have been put at these facilities. This also meant a huge expenditure for the administration that could well have been spent to create more facilities in the hospitals to fight the deadly virus.
Given the way we are witnessing a spike in the number of positive cases the present practice of hospitalization of covid-19 patients needs to be regulated so as to avoid unnecessary strain on the health care system.
The hospital beds at the tertiary level are required to be kept available for more severe cases who may need intensive monitoring in a hospital setting.
Keeping in view better management of COVID-19 patients, the protocol with regard to management of COVID-19 patients needs serious revision and all asymptomatic patients with no co-morbidity and not vulnerable otherwise should be allowed to remain under home quarantine.
To achieve better compliance amongst the contacts of covid-19 patients the present practice of administrative quarantine of covid positive contacts should be permitted home quarantine provided they are asymptomatic.
These measures will ensure a breather for the hospitals as well as the quarantine centres and provide an opportunity for the administration to scale up the facilities to deal with the present crisis in a professional way.
KV Network
