Separate room, toilet must for home care, say doctors

● Care givers must wear masks at home all the time.

● Patient must be made to wear mask at home.

● Direct contact with patient’s body fluids must be avoided.

● Sanitisation of bathroom has to be carried out every time it is used.

● Food must be provided in room only and gloves must be used to clean the utensils used by patient.

● Patient and care giver levels must be checked every day and doctors must be updated.

Home treatment is possible and effective urge doctors, but the risk of transmission is mitigated only if there is a separate room and bathroom for the patient. More doctors are counselling home isolation for patients with mild symptoms of cough, fever, cold, diarrhoea and headaches.

Home treatment requires having a pulse oximeter, home machine for blood pressure and a notebook to note the symptoms. Video-counselling is given on a daily basis to understand the changes and effectiveness of medicines. People are advised to completely rest, that is, to sleep on the bed, move only if they have to go to the washroom, and eat alone in their room and allow the body and mind to rest.

Dr Sunita Narreddy, consultant in infectious diseases at Apollo Hospitals, said, “Lots of fluids must be consumed to maintain hydration. It is very important that a person is isolated, which means that he/she is completely alone and that there is no one living in the same room as them. A caregiver has to follow protection of masks, sanitisation and also maintaining distance. This will protect other family members and also curb the spread of infection at home.”

Breathing exercises are extremely important and that must be done twice a day. The care giver also has to monitor temperature, oxygen levels and blood pressure. If oxygen levels are below 90 then it requires attention and hospital must be contacted. Dr Nishant Sinha, pulmonologist at Continental Hospitals, said, “We make the patients walk 100 steps after a week to check if there is breathlessness. This is monitored via video counselling and is also an indication that patients are doing well at home and recovering. The management at home requires following the instructions and keeping the treating doctor informed of any change. If patients do that, they can be treated well.”