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Rapid fall in health of some a worry: Experts

GUWAHATI: Recent incidents of patients’ health condition deteriorating “very quickly”, often leading to their death, have left the Assam health department scouting for answers.


Doctors said those who are alcoholic, malnourished and chronic smokers are more at risk.

Top official sources in the health department said even as the death rate varied in different districts, it was observed that the health condition of some patients deteriorated too fast for the doctors to intervene.



“In some cases, even before we could realise what complications the patients had developed, they had passed away. This is a very unsettling trend. Because to treat a patient, doctors need time,” said a senior official of the health department. He said there was a similar case reported from lower Assam’s Barpeta district on Thursday. “The 30-year-old man who died in Barpeta was diagnosed with Covid. He was said to have withdrawal symptoms and suffered from anxiety,” the official said.

Without pointing towards this case directly, the official said, “Those who are alcoholic, malnourished and chronic smokers, apparently, the respiratory failure is very high. These are old habits, but, in the current situation if they contract Covid-19, it is very difficult to save them,” the official added.

He said in view of the large number of newly identified positive cases with these adverse health conditions, the health department is planning to start a plasma therapy at the district level. Also, remdesivir injection is going to be extensively used across the state. “About 200-300 patients have fully recovered after use of remdesivir. So, we are exploring the option of pushing remdesivir injection at the district-level just to save patients who need critical care,” said the official.

The need to study each patient’s basic medical history was discussed in a video conference between state health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and district officials and health experts from the medical colleges on Wednesday evening. “Immediately after identification of the positive cases, each of them needs to be examined separately on a priority basis. We are working on that. If a patient has any comorbidity and whether the patient is likely to develop any complications need to be tracked from day one. That is the only way to stop the fast deterioration of health conditions,” he added.

It has been advised to the districts in the meeting that symptomatic and high-risk individuals (who are more than 65 years, and patients with comorbid conditions such as diabetes) to be segregated from other patients. While it said that patients must continue to receive their usual medicines for the comorbidities, the shift in-charges should track the same with the respective individuals.

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