Distress follows disease: Even mild patients can’t stay home
nNEW DELHI: The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), headed by lieutenant governor Anil Baijal, on Friday evening controversially ordered a mandatory five-day institutional quarantine for “each case” under home quarantine in the city, in an unexpected move that could strain the city’s already-stretched health infra and workers, discourage people from undergoing tests, and inconvenience around 8,500 people currently in home isolation.
The decision was immediately criticised as “arbitrary” by the state government, which, in a statement, pointed out its success in running a home quarantine programme and the challenges that will come with adding “thousands of quarantine rooms and finding additional doctors and nurses and health workers”
NEW DELHI: A committee formed by Union home minister Amit Shah has recommended slashing the fees Delhi’s private hospitals charge Covid-19 patients significantly, a government spokesperson said on Friday.
The panel recommended to all hospitals a price range
to manage these facilities. The statement also questioned why this change in guidelines was being made only for Delhi. “We have treated thousands of mild and asymptomatic cases at home so far through daily monitoring and counselling,” it added.
DDMA said in its order that it fears “home isolation without physical contact to monitor the of ₹8,000-10,000 a day for an isolation bed, ₹13,000-15,000 a day for a bed at an ICU, and ₹15,000-18,000 a day for an ICU bed with ventilator, according to a home ministry spokesperson. At present, the fee for an isolation bed is ₹24,000-25,000 a day. For an ICU bed, it is ₹34,000-43,000 a day. patients may be a reason for the increase in the spread of Covid-19 infections in Delhi”.
But, according to experts, home quarantine is preferred if the home meets certain conditions. “Medical beds should be kept for serious patients needing specialised care...” said T Jacob John, the former head of virology at CMC, Vellore.
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