COVID first-line treatment centres (FLTCs) may have to admit people with less severe symptoms too in the future.
There is also a plan to have programme management and support units in districts to coordinate the admission of patients in hospitals and the use of ventilators and intensive care units (ICU) there to avoid overburdening the health system.
FLTCs are right now attending to only asymptomatic patients and those with mild symptoms, who are called Category ‘A’ patients. These people are being shifted to COVID hospitals only if their condition worsens.
Category ‘B’ patients are those with less severe symptoms, and those in Category ‘C’ need urgent medical attention including ICU support. According to the latest guidelines issued by the Health Department, this may have to be changed according to the emerging situation in the State.
“If the epidemic progresses, at a later stage we may need to manage Category ‘B’ patients too at the FLTCs. The change in FLTC as a treatment centre shall be informed at appropriate time after studying the epidemic and the situation in the district,” say the guidelines.
Upgraded facilities
The district authorities will have to identify a few FLTCs that could be upgraded to a higher clinical-grade level and ready at least 1,000 beds there. They should be close to COVID hospitals and have modern medicine teams and logistics.
The plan to have programme management and support units is expected to help admit patients in need of urgent medical attention to hospitals and streamline the referral system between health-care institutions in public and private sectors.
Real-time info
Real-time information on the status of beds, ventilators and ICUs in each institution will be made available. The government believes that this will avert panic, prevent delay in admission of patients and ensure proper care to avoid deaths owing to COVID-19 or non-Covid illnesses.
The support unit in districts would be led by respective District Collectors. There will be a 24x7 helpline number and a call centre to coordinate the work of these units. At the State-level, the unit will be led by Rathan Kelkar, State Mission Director, National Health Mission.
