Patients in CHICs left to fend for themselves
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, May 15 2021: In view of the worsening situation of the Covid-19 pandemic, the state government had opened Community Home Isolation Centres (CHICs) in all assembly constituencies to take care of asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic patients following the shortage of space in Covid Care Hospitals.

However, many patients have been left to fend for themselves when their health condition happens to get serious due to lack of necessary facilities including doctors and nurses, in most of the CHICs.

Speaking to The People's Chronicle in this regard, a volunteer working in the one of the CHICs revealed that aside from providing some medicines, the patients in the said CHIC could not avail service of doctors or nurses.

The volunteers, apart from organising the food arranged by the local MLA or the patients' families, cannot be of much assistance to the patients or their families, especially when the oxygen saturation levels of the patients drop low to dangerous level.

In such a case when the oxygen levels become dangerously low all of a sudden, the authority concerned is requested immediately to dispatch an emergency ambulance for hospitalizing the patients.

However, the ambulances are almost never dispatched and if the patients are taken to the hospital via private ambulance; the hospitals cannot admit them due to shortage of oxygen and beds, resulting in the death of some of the patients.

"In all honesty, those who are volunteering at the centres are left disheartened and dismayed due to non-establishment of a clear set-up by the district administration and the authority concerned regarding which hospitals the patients should be taken to in case of sudden medical emergency", the volunteer said.

The volunteer further said: "When the district authority and the CMOs concerned were requested to deploy at least some nurses and doctors to the CHICs, they expressed their inability to do so as it is not included in the government's policy with regard to operation of CHICs.

The same response is given with regard to request for keeping 1-2 oxygen concentrators to be used in time of an emergency as well.

Such apathy has demoralised many of the volunteers who had come forward to aid the government in the fight against the pandemic".

Recalling the Chief Minister's announcement of providing oximeters and necessary medications to CHICs and those undergoing home isolations, the volunteer remarked that the oximeters are of no use if oxygen support is not provided to the patient in time and if there is no hospital to take the patient to for emergency treatment.

"Even if the government does not provide the oximeters, the device is not expensive and every centre can purchase them easily.

If the government was to arrange for an oxygen concentrator and deploy necessary doctors and nurses to the centres, the life of the patients could be saved within the 'golden hour'", the volunteer conveyed.

On the other hand, many assembly constituencies are unable to open CHIC due to non-availability of volunteers over the fear of the pandemic.

As such, many positive patients, who do not have home isolation facilities, are forced to isolate at small huts and other unsafe places.

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