Only symptomatic patients in Chennai hospitals, for rest it’s home isolation

“We are treating only symptomatic COVID patients, and non-COVID emergency patients, whereas people with asymptomatic are recommended for home isolation. We are trying the shift the patients who are already under treatment within a week. Currently, there are 50 new COVID patients including Omicron suspect cases. Also, people with mild symptoms with comorbid conditions are admitted for observation,” said Dr R Shanthimalar, Dean, Government Kilpauk Medical College Hospital.

If the COVID patients do not show any symptoms on the fourth or fifth day, they are discharged and are advised to follow home quarantine for a week. Also, around 10 patients who were already treated are under oxygen support. “At present, we don’t have many requirements for oxygen. But as cases might further increase in the coming days, we are prepared with adequate stock,” said Dr Shanthimalar.

With the city having at least 5 lakh people who have not taken a single dose of vaccination, the health experts claim that they are at higher risk compared to those vaccinated as they have mild symptoms or are asymptomatic. Also, the city-based private hospitals are receiving a drastic number of COVID cases in the past week.

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“When the cases increase, the healthcare workers would be the first to get infected. So we have ensured that the workers in the hospital are vaccinated. And compared to vaccinated people, those who are not vaccinated are at high risk. So if a patient is having symptoms such as fever, cold, cough or throat sore for over two days, we recommend COVID test as their condition would not turn critical,” said Dr Sabarisan R, Medical director - General and Laparoscopic Surgeon, Be Well Hospitals.

The hospital is treating around 20 patients for COVID where all have mild symptoms, while after January 1 there was a tremendous rise in the number of cases. To handle the third wave, the hospital has set up separate wards for COVID and a clinical team to handle emergency cases when the cases further rise.