Treat patients with symptoms, now

Liberalise hospital admission norms. They must admit symptomatic patients

According to media reports, a 55-year-old woman waited outside a government-covid-19 medical facility in Ujjain on Friday, in an ambulance. She had symptoms of the coronavirus disease. She also had co-morbidities. But her formal test results had not come. The hospital said that since only confirmed cases were being admitted, she was not eligible. Her relatives kept pleading, to no avail. The woman died. Two days later, test results showed that she did, indeed, have the virus. Could she have been saved if she had been admitted?

A human tragedy often, starkly, tells a larger story of systemic weaknesses. India is testing a lot less than it should — though to be sure, numbers have increased now. Test results then take some days to come out. But hospital rules for admission of patients are restrictive. All of this is taking a toll and costing lives. It is now well-known that the virus is deceptive — many who are infected may not show symptoms. If there isn’t aggressive testing, then it is possible that such individuals will not only continue to suffer, but spread the infection to others. But in cases where symptoms are visible too, such as in Ujjain, the health system is taking too long to test and admit patients. This is a virus where people can move from mild symptoms to turning severely ill very quickly; this makes it even more urgent to intervene, isolate and offer treatment early. For this, it is essential to liberalise patient admission norms. Hospitals must not turn away patients. Learn from Ujjain.