Treating Covid Patients: Gonoshasthaya at their doorstep

Gonoshasthaya Kendra started an initiative to treat coronavirus patients at their home with mobile medical teams in four areas of the capital.

The Gonoshasthaya Kendra Mobile Corona Medical Services will also collect samples from people with coronavirus-like symptoms from their homes in Dhanmondi, Kalabagan, Old Dhaka, and Mirpur.

Medical officers of Gonoshasthaya Kendra (GK) will visit homes in ambulances for Covid-19 patients who call the institution or book the service using an app, Dr Zafrullah Chowdhury, founder and trustee of GK, told The Daily Star on Wednesday night.

Former vice chancellor of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Prof Dr Nazrul Islam inaugurated the service virtually during a programme at GK's Dhanmondi hospital yesterday.

The service is currently being provided every day from 9:00am to 8:00pm, he said.

Initially three teams will work to treat Covid-19 patients at home. Each team will have senior and junior physicians, nurses, pathology technologists, physiotherapists and volunteers.

Dr Zafrullah said the ambulance that will visit the Covid-19 patients' houses will have an X-ray, ECG machine, a ventilator and all other necessary equipment.

He said the mobile medical team will not charge any fees for their services and will charge about half the cost of other tests, including the Covid-19 test.

The medical team conducting house visits will also be accompanied by a motorcycle, the rider of which will return to the hospital with the X-Ray cassette and/or a potential Covid-19 patient's sample.

Covid-19 patients will be divided into four categories according to the symptoms they are exhibiting. These are: mild, tolerable, tolerable with comorbidities (diabetes, heart or kidney disease, stroke, asthma, etc.) and severe.

Dr Zafrullah said the first three types of patients can be treated at home.

They will be treated according to the guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO). The doctor will give them certain medicines after going through the X-ray image on their mobile phones. The technician will collect blood samples for necessary tests.

Patients exhibiting severe symptoms will be transferred to the hospital.

If a patient tests positive for Covid-19, the necessary medicine will be sent to his or her residence and necessary treatment will be provided.

The nurse will train the patient and his or her relatives in the use of oxygen cylinders and pulse oximeters. If necessary, plasma treatment will be arranged at home.

In addition, chest X-rays, ECG and all the tests that need to be done will be carried out.

In other words, a hospital will go to a corona patient's house, Dr Zafrullah said.

He said not all Covid-19 patients need to go to hospital.

There are two types of services they can provide through home visits -- firstly, carry out tests on a large scale and secondly, if any Covid patients calls them, their medical team will go to the patient's residence and provide the necessary treatment.

Dr Zafrullah Chowdhury told The Daily Star that the government had not taken the necessary precautionary measures regarding Covid-19 treatment.

"I have been saying from the beginning that oxygen is most needed for Covid-19 patients. We can easily produce that oxygen ourselves. It costs around Tk 30 crore to build a small oxygen plant, and it is not difficult for the government to spend [that amount]. If the money is given to the hospitals as a grant, they can produce oxygen as per their requirement," he said.

"At the same time, we will teach other people of the Covid infected patient how to measure temperature, blood pressure and oxygen level. We will provide this service from door to door, so that the crowd in the hospital is reduced and the panic among the people is also reduced."

Zafrullah said there is no alternative to stand by the people the way Covid-19 situation is deteriorating. We can say for sure that the positive results will be visible within 15 to 30 days of the door-to-door treatment gets started.

Call 01709-663994 and 09602111940 to avail the medical services of the Gonoshasthaya Kendra mobile medical team. In addition, this facility is also available through the app Codered SOS.