Apollo Hospital has launched a free tele-access facility for general physicians and nursing homes. They can get advice from COVID Critical Care experts to treat COVI-19 patients.
Apollo Hospitals group chairman Prathap C. Reddy said, “Through this initiative we are sharing our experience in best practices with doctors and nursing homes who may not have the complete knowledge of high-end critical care. This will prevent them from adopting unproven therapies with potential harm and empower them to offer the correct evidence-based therapy at the right time even to patients at home and at smaller nursing homes. We believe that this will help in limiting disease progression and lead to efficient utility of medical beds, oxygen and medications.”
The hospital has cited the high demand for Remsesivir as an example. Despite the limited role of Remdesivir in select hospitalised patients requiring small amounts of oxygen, the drug has been much in demand these past few weeks in the State. Similarly, early, inappropriate use of steroids has played a role in increased incidence of secondary infections including the increasing cases of fungal infections such as mucormycosis.
In the first phase, Apollo Hospitals’ critical care specialists will provide consultative services to physicians in the State IMA community to optimise COVID care delivery. A special helpline number is being set up for this purpose.
Doctors and nursing homes can call from 8 am to 8 pm from Monday to Saturday, according to a release.