Covid-positive patients will not have to visit Covid Care Centres for clinical assessment:  Sisodia

Covid-positive patients will not have to visit Covid Care Centres for clinical assessment:  Sisodia

COVID-positive persons will not be required to visit COVID Care Centres for a clinical assessment for home isolation or hospitalisation, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said after an SDMA meeting on Thursday.

He said it has been decided to withdraw the Centre’s order regarding the requirement of COVID Care Centre visit by COVID-positive persons at the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) meeting. Sisodia said those found COVID-19 positive would be *clinically assessed by medical officers at their homes.

The Deputy CM of Delhi who is also handling the additional portfolio of the Health Minister said the home isolation has been highly successful in Delhi and around 30,000 coronavirus patients had been cured under the system.

“Today I am bringing some good news for the people of Delhi. As per the earlier system followed in Delhi, when a person is tested positive for coronavirus then the Delhi Government’s medical team would visit his home. The medical team would then check his symptoms and their severity, if he had a fever, cough, etc. Thereafter team would also check whether he is fit for home isolation or not. If the medical team found the symptoms severe or learnt that the patient had comorbidities, then they would send him to the hospital. In the absence of the provision/arrangement of home isolation for asymptomatic patients, the medical team would refer him/her to a Quarantine Centre. This was the protocol being followed in Delhi till last Friday. Last Saturday, the Central Govt. and the LG first issued an order mandating 5-day Institutional Quarantine for every person testing positive for COVID.  We held discussions with them and requested scrapping of this order. Eventually, they agreed,” he said.

He added that this new rule by the Central Govt. mandating every person testing positive to visit a Quarantine  Centre for clinical assessment had been adding to the woes of the troubled people. “We had requested the Central Govt to rethink this decision. Central Govt. has approved our request and decided to roll it back to the older system of medical team visits at patients’ homes,” said Sisodia.

“People were very troubled that if they are found COVID positive then they will have to visit a Quarantine Centre. I also read a few reports in the media about people who had tested positive for COVID 19,  and were worried that they would have to go to the Quarantine Centre, even when they were asymptomatic and are fit for home isolation,” said Sisodia.

He said the old system of screening COVID patients at their homes by Delhi Govt’s medical team has again been put into force by the approval of the Central Govt.

“The medical team will assess the health condition of the patients and the severity of his symptoms. The team will also note if there is an arrangement for home quarantine for the concerned patient. Only after noting that the patient is asymptomatic or have very mild symptoms, that the team would approve home isolation for him. And if the patient’s symptoms are serious, then the team would take him to a hospital,” said the Deputy Chief Minister.

He said so this new rule by LG for mandatory clinical assessment at Quarantine Centre has been scrapped. Now Home isolation can be granted to those who are eligible for it. Patients will not need to stand in huge queues outside the Quarantine Centre now.

“Lastly, I would just want to say, home isolation is a great arrangement which is being successfully practised not in Delhi but in the entire world. Around 30,000 patients have been cured under Home Isolation. So, the arrangements like this which facilitate speedy recovery of patients should not be scrapped,” said Sisodia.