Assam govt’s Covid-19 management decisions whimsical, says IMA

The Assam unit of Indian Medical Association (IMA) on Tuesday expressed resentment and reservations on sure coverage adjustments by the state authorities on administration of Covid-19 pandemic within the state.

In a letter addressed to well being minister Himanta Biswa Sarma (copy of which is with HT), the IMA unit stated with current surge in Covid-19 circumstances within the state will probably be troublesome to manage the scenario within the absence of correct planning.

“Increasing hospital beds without manpower planning will be futile exercise as we have very limited resources in terms of doctors and health workers,” the IMA’s letter stated.

Till Monday, Assam had recorded 12,522 Covid-19 optimistic circumstances. The state’s greatest metropolis, Guwahati, and remainder of Kamrup Metro district have been positioned underneath whole shutdown for 14 days starting June 28 attributable to community spread of the disease.

“On Monday, the government issued a fresh set of guidelines increasing Covid duty for doctors from existing 7 days at a stretch to 11 days followed by 3 days in quarantine and resumption of duty after their tests come negative,” stated Dr. Satyajit Borah, IMA Assam unit president.

“This was done without consultation with stakeholders. Working in Covid centres for 11-days at a stretch wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) kits in this summer without air-conditioning in most centres is very exerting and will demoralize frontline workers,” he added.

The IMA unit additionally opposed the federal government’s determination to modify over from RT-PCR checks to speedy antigen detection (RAD) checks for checking well being staff engaged in COVID. It added that based on ICMR, the RAD take a look at “is less sensitive and negative result does not rule out Covid”.

“Already a number of doctors and healthcare workers have fallen victim to Covid and such unplanned and insensitive steps will further endanger the health workers. IMA demands a critical review on why so many doctors and health workers are affected by the disease,” the letter said.

Though precise figures of Covid-19 an infection amongst medical doctors and well being staff wasn’t accessible, IMA workplace bearers talked about almost 20-25 medical doctors have examined optimistic for the virus within the state.

“IMA urges the government to take experienced healthcare professionals and groups in confidence in proper planning to face the challenges rather than taking closed door and whimsical decisions. Otherwise the much talked about successful Assam model will collapse in no time,” the letter cautioned.

The IMA unit suggested the state authorities to stick to ICMR’s recommendation of administration of asymptomatic Covid-19 sufferers of their houses so as to reduce burden on healthcare staff and services.

Reacting to the IMA letter, principal secretary (well being and household welfare) Samir Kumar Sinha talked about that he was conscious of the problems raised and they are going to be sorted out after consultations.

“We had to raise the number of Covid duty days from 7 to 11 for healthcare workers due to the surge in cases. We have to provide medical services to the patients or else there will be more deaths,” Sinha stated.

“Unlike RT-PCR test, which used to take several days to get results, the RAD test allows us to get results within an hour. Once the results come negative and their quarantine period is over, healthcare workers can get back to duty,” he added.

Health division officers requesting anonymity stated preserving asymptomatic Covid-19 sufferers in residence quarantine is hard for Assam as healthcare staff might want to pay visits recurrently to observe them. But a change in protocol is anticipated inside the subsequent few days.