Although 2022 will be remembered as a “COVID waning year”, the year is ending on a note of caution as another outbreak has emerged in some countries and many precautions that were done away with only recently are now being reintroduced.
The first half of this year saw the Omicron-driven third wave, but the severity was low and the demand for hospital beds and oxygen was negligible.
Outside of COVID-19, two ICU deaths at Vijayanagara Institute of Medical Sciences (VIMS) in Ballari, following a power failure and defunct generators at the hospital in mid-September, and the death of a pregnant woman with newborn twins at her residence in Tumakuru in November — after she was refused admission at the district hospital there — underlined the gaps in health infrastructure.
Rapid rise in infections
The year began with a rapid rise in Omicron infections following which the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) issued an advisory on ‘Purposive Testing Strategy’ that said that all contacts of COVID-19 patients need not be tested. Considering the pace of infections then, the advisory came as a relief. Despite that, the State recorded nearly a lakh new infections from January to April after which the third wave started waning.
The year also saw many people reporting post-COVID complications including hypoglycaemia, brain fog, stroke, cardiac and diabetic foot conditions apart from tinnitus, hair loss and mask acne too.
Precaution dose
On January 10, the Union government started administering booster (precaution) dose in a phased manner to eligible population groups such as healthcare workers and elderly population with co-morbid conditions. This was extended to all above 18 years from April 10 only in private hospitals at a price. And, from July 15, this was provided free of cost for all to ensure more people take the booster shot. Despite this, the uptake has been poor. With rise in cases in countries like China at the fag end of year, Karnataka has asked for more stock from Centre and urged people to take booster dose.
On January 3, vaccination of children aged 15-17 years began and subsequently in March it was opened up for children aged 12-14 years. The State’s third sero-survey involving unvaccinated children taken up this year found 75.38% of children in Karnataka exposed to SARS-CoV-2.
The year also saw 11 suspected monkeypox cases and one confirmed case of Zika virus. Dengue has been on the rise and the total number of cases have crossed 9,000 exceeding last year’s tally. The year 2022 also marked the sudden disruption of 108 arogya kavacha ambulance services in September due to a technical glitch. Although the Tenders for the new service are yet to be finalised.
Organ donations, brain health
On the positive side, the State achieved a milestone in cadaveric organ donation, crossing the century mark in the first nine months and touching 146 presently. Eye pledging also got a boost following Kannada actor Puneeth Rajkumar’s eye donation. His donation not just gave the gift of sight to four people, but also inspired nearly a lakh people to pledge their eyes.
Other notable developments included the launch of brain health initiative in association with NIMHANS to diagnose and treat neurological issues from the grassroots level. The Niti Ayog is now planning to emulate the initiative across the country.
The launch of an online system of referral under the Ayushman Bharat Arogya Karnataka (AB-ArK) and Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) happened this year. From a mere 124 verified healthcare professionals in its Health Professionals Registry (HPR) under ABDM in July, Karnataka now stands first in the country with 29,950 professionals registered in its HPR.
