‘Home quarantine patients with mild, no symptoms’
SRINAGAR: With the surge in number of Covid-19 cases in J&K, doctors and experts have suggested the administration to home quarantine patients with mild and asymptomatic conditions.
In the past ten days, over a thousand infections have been reported in J&K, and doctors opine that if this trend continues, as the administration is now planning to open the UT after a long lockdown, the transmission could spiral out of control.
Dr Naveed Shah of Chest Disease Hospital, Srinagar, who recently tested positive for the disease, stressed that the government should change its strategy. “So many cases are being detected each day. Where are we going to keep these patients, their families and contacts? We have to alter our strategy of testing and quarantine,” he stated in a tweet.
Dr Ijtaba Shafi, one of the health officers posted in Ganderbal, said it was time to take a call on home isolation of asymptomatic/mildly symptomatic patients. Paediatrician and Doctors Association Kashmir president and Dr Suhail Naik said, “Around 200 cases land daily, leading 1,000 into administrative quarantine. India spends ₹2,440 on each person in quarantine centres. Soon, we will have shortage of beds, chaos and confusion.”
“We can’t hold the administrative quarantine for much long as it has many loopholes. The administration should pay serious attention towards shifting from this strategy,” said Dr Amjid Ali, senior consultant at Baramulla medical college.