Govt revises discharge policy for Covid-19 patients
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, May 29 2021: The state government has revised its discharge policy for Covid-19 in alignment with the Union Ministry of Health & FW's 'Revised Discharge Policy for Covid-19' dated May 8, 2020 and 'Revise guidelines for Home Isolation of mild/asymptomatic Covid-19 cases' dated April 28.In the revised policy issued on Saturday, Health Services director Dr K Rajo Singh stated that for asymptomatic cases which are laboratory confirmed cases but do not show any symptoms and have oxygen saturation (SpO2) at room air of more than 96 per cent will be monitored under home isolation, subject to their eligibility as per the revised guidelines.

The patient under home isolation will stand discharged and end isolation after 10 days from the date of sampling and there will be no need for testing prior to discharge, it added.

The policy mentioned that for mild/ very mild cases (SpO2 less than or equal to 94 per cent) admitted to a Covid Care Facility will undergo regular temperature and pulse oximetry monitoring.

The patient will be discharged after 10 days of onset of symptom and absence of fever without antipyretics for the last three days and there will be no testing prior to discharge.

At the time of discharge, the patient will be advised to isolate himself/ herself at home and self-monitor their health for further seven days.

After discharge from facility, if he/she again develops symptoms of fever, cough, or breathing difficulty they shall contact Covid Care Centre or State Covid Help-line/Control Room No 1800-345-3818 or respective District Covid Helpline numbers, it said.

The policy said that for moderate cases whose symptoms resolve within three days and maintain SpO2 less than or equal to 95 per cent for the next four days (without oxygen support), such patients will be discharged after 10 days of onset of symptom in case of absence of fever without antipyretics, resolution of breathlessness and no oxygen requirement.

There will be no testing prior to discharge and at the time of discharge, the patient will be advised to isolate themselves at home and self-monitor their health for further seven days, it stated.

The policy continued that for moderate cases on oxygenation whose fever does not resolve within three days and demand of oxygen therapy continues, such patients will be discharged only after resolution of clinical symptoms and ability to maintain oxygen saturation for three consecutive days.

There will be no testing before discharge and the patient will be advised to isolate at home and self-monitor their health for further seven days after discharge, it mentioned.

The revised policy further stated that for severe cases including immunocompromised (HIV patients, transplant recipients, malignancy), discharge criteria will be based on clinical recovery along with the patient testing negative once by RT-PCR, after resolution of symptoms.

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