COVID 19: Be back on the wagon
Demand for corona testing is growing across the country. With the increasing numbers of testing, infection rate is also shooting up. PCR being expensive and strenuous process of conducting the test, delayed test results and chances of spreading of the infection while waiting for result is obvious when people are not accustomed to SMS. Having only one tool, i.e. Conventional RT PCR has not become very handy for all the check points.
Being a responsible citizen and one of the well connected people in diagnostics world, I have already initiated a process to bring in the best alternate to tedious conventional RT PCR to facilitate for faster, economical & reliable technology called CRISPR, the Nobel Prize 2020 winning technology from USA. I want to believe with the honest cooperation of Government of Nepal, this technology could substantially enhance the capability of testing with more reliable test result faster.
The responsibility of citizen does not end by criticizing government and asking for absolute human right in the difficult situation the whole world is going through. Till we get vaccine in hand, the mandatory public health precautions like use of mask, maintaining physical distance and keeping hands clean are not to be ignored and we must consciously make sure, we as an individual will not be the cause to spread the infection.
I would like to call upon all the corporate houses to intensify their CSR investments into people; the business exists when people exist around you. Let’s show the beautiful and meaningful side of your entity that people remember it for its glorious engagement for the greater good of the society.
Government mechanism must monitor and put the things in order as there is rampant use of Inferior Quality Testing Material and they must make sure the tests are conducted following the internationally accepted protocol and standard operating procedure.
Erratic report of PCR test, which is supposed to be the gold standard for virus testing and expected to be in agreement with virus culture, created an irreversible damage in controlling covid-19 pandemics.
WHO has always emphasized on testing, tracing and treating. If we can build up on the test capacity and all positives are isolated in a proper way, followed by smart tracing system then we hardly have to worry about providing the best available treatment to those unfortunate few who would have severe symptoms. We have not yet effectively applied the principles of successful contact tracing and train our manpower to interview the suspects, which eventually needs to be conducted professionally as it is a sensitive issue in both personal & community level.
Close contact evaluation and risk monitoring in hierarchy model is a decade old tool for helping control the spread of infectious diseases that might typically goes:
Testing Identification Notification Follow up and monitoring and support
Since strong contact tracing emphasize on targeted approach so the blanket lockdown becomes irrelevant and useless. We can avoid devastatingly compromised economic activities which are the life line of any country and it is important for both macro and micro economics.
We are facing an overwhelming situation because we entered into the vicious cycle of very badly organized testing & tracing process which is leading us towards community transmission, as a result, severe cases requiring serious clinical treatment are increasing day by day. Death of human is a very sensitive issue and it practically jeopardizes the harmony in the society and becomes one of the worst reasons of misalignment in the society.
Now the smart move is to revamp for more tests, isolate the cases and stop the uncurbed infection to reach into every household by deploying smart tracing system. Simultaneously, we have to make a great deal of preparation expecting a huge influx of seriously ill patients requiring intensive care, in upcoming 2 weeks time. This 14 days rhythm needs to be closely monitored and fine tuned to flatten the curve. Upcoming days must be too much engaging and worrisome, saving life of people amidst the insufficiency of medical services amenities is challenging.
If we do not want to remain a dumbo once again we need to think about post infection clinical care as there have been some proven cases of clinical conditions even after complete recovery of COVID-19. Role of different Medical Specialists post COVID Pandemic situation seems equally important.
Psychiatrists and counseling services required for Loneliness Epidemic. Stress level is definitely high cause of COVID -19 outbreaks and its negative impact on society, economy. Isolation is not an easy thing to handle as it generates the loneliness epidemic in individual and in the society. Distressed individual requires well structured narrative that sooths them.
Neurologists: Loss of smell and taste signifies that COVID-19 may infect neurons, it makes a good sense to stay vigilant with the patients and follow up may require if there are long term effects on the nervous system. Having sense of normalcy is very important more than to symptomatic relief.
Cardiologists: Since COVID-19 hits the organs and Heart muscle is one of them, there has been a lot of experiences of deteriorating heart health among the COVID victims even after complete recovery.
Similarly, Nephrologists and Hepatologists must stay alert like Pulmonologist as we are reading a plethora of evidences on long term effects on visceral organs.
The WHO media briefing of 16th October 2020 states “ Interim results from the solidarity Therapeutics Trial now show that the other two drugs in the trial, remdesivir and interferon, have little or no effect in preventing death from COVID-19 or reducing time in hospital”
