Delhi govt to hand out oxygen metres for Covid patients in home isolation

NEWDELHI: The Delhi government is working on a plan to loan pulse-oximeters patients with mild symptoms of Covid-19 for regular monitoring of oxygen levels during home isolation.

So far, 34,687 people in the city have contracted the viral infection. Delhi government data shows that almost 70% of those with the infection in the city are currently in home-isolation.

The government is procuring one lakh pulse-oximeters, a small clip-on device that has to be attached to the finger-tip to check the amount of oxygen in the body. Current guidelines say that Covid-19 patients have to be admitted to hospitals if their oxygen saturation drops to 90% or below (normal is 95 to 100%).

“Many patients rush to hospit als aft er t esting positive, because they do not know what to do. However, if every patient in home isolation has a pulse-oximeter they can monitor their oxygen saturation regularly and go to hospitals in case saturation dips below 93%,” said a senior official from Delhi’s health department.

The pulse-oximeter will have to be returned once the patient recovers. A pulse-oximeter costs between ₹1,000 and ₹3,000.

“The government is planning on implementing a pilot project to provide devices such as a pulse-oximeter and wrist-band that can monitor temperature and peri meter c ontrol , to patients in home-isolation,” said a senior district level officer.

“Among patients who need hospitalisation, survival is the best among those who get oxygen early on. Distributing the simple pulse- oximeter will al l ow patients to monitor their own oxygen levels and rush to the hospital in case of an emergency,” said Dr Arun Gupta, president of the Delhi Medical Council, and a member of panel constituted by the government to aid in the augmentation of the city’s health care infrastructure.