Hospitals in Coimbatore are taking extra care while performing dialysis for people with renal problems in the time of COVID-19 pandemic.
With dialysis being life-saving procedure, hospitals were asked to follow guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare with reference to COVID-19.
While directing hospitals to follow at most care, the Ministry’s guidelines also underline that ‘patients on regular dialysis should adhere to prescribed schedule and not miss their dialysis sessions to avoid any emergency dialysis’.
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A. Prabhakaran, Head of the Department of Nephrology at the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH), said that separate dialysis unit was demarcated as per Government instructions to be used if persons tested positive for COVID-19 required to undergo the procedure.
However, CMCH did not have any COVID-19 patient who required dialysis, so far.
According to Dr. Prabhakaran, there was a fall in the number of dialysis performed by the hospital since the onset of COVID-19 in the region. The hospital which used to perform around 1,200 dialysis per month performed around 600 sessions in the last one month period.
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Several patients who were on maintenance hemodialysis did not turn up on scheduled dates despite having intimated from the hospital. This was possibly be due to travel restrictions and due to fear of hospital visits during the pandemic.
Damodaran Pachaiappan, nephrologist with Coimbatore Kidney Centre, said that the hospital was following Government guidelines for new cases as well as those requiring maintenance hemodialysis before performing the procedure.
“We have informed people who are on maintenance hemodialysis to inform us if they have conditions such as fever, sore throat, cough and diarrhoea before coming for the session.
They were also asked to inform if they had travelled abroad or had contact with COVID-19 patients. On arrival at the hospital, they are triaged by a doctor who ensure that they do not have symptoms of COVID-19 before permitted to the dialysis area,” he said.
Questionnaire
For new patients, those having acute renal problems, the staff collects information from the patient and attender to fill a questionnaire prepared by Indian Council of Medical Research to assess whether the patient can be admitted for dialysis, he said.
“Those having suspected symptoms are shifted to an isolation room. So far, we sent two persons who had certain symptoms to Government Medical College and ESI Hospital for COVID-19 test. They tested negative and later underwent dialysis here,” said Dr. Pachaiappan and added that the hospital, which performs around 1,300 dialysis sessions a month, did not have any COVID-19 patient so far.