Government Rajaji Hospital in Madurai has formed a team of professionals to do follow-up with patients recovered from COVID-19. The team also encourages them to use the COVID-19 wellness clinic at the hospital.
Dean J. Sangumani said a team of four medical professionals and health workers call patients who had tested positive at least one month ago to check on their health status. “Some may be suffering from resolving pneumonia or residual fibrosis. Others often go through a bout of depression. We try to build a relationship with them so that they can intimate us in case of emergency,” he said.
The wellness clinic, which was started in mid-August, which functions as an outpatient ward, sees every day five or six patients who have recovered from COVID-19, said Treatment Coordinator of GRH COVID-19 speciality wing K. Senthil. They were mostly patients who come under ‘moderate’ and ‘severe’ categories.
Patients also called in to check whether they had developed antibodies. “If it is the case, we encourage them to donate their plasma for treatment of other patients,” he said. About 15% of COVID-19 patients came under ‘severe’ and 30% under ‘moderate.’ If the recovered patients came for review, they can know their current health status, he said. Dr. Sangumani said they were encouraging the recovered patients to use the wellness clinic.
