PGI plays safe, sticks to old discharge norms

Naina Mishra

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Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 17

In the past four days, the PGI has discharged 21 city patients taking the recovery rate from 16 per cent (on May 13) to 26.7 per cent now. Meanwhile, the positivity rate has declined to 6.7 per cent from 7.8 per cent on May 13, when the city reported its last case.

However, none of the patients has been discharged according to the revised discharge policy as per which, a mild case can be discharged after 10 days of the onset of symptoms and no fever for three days.

At present, the PGI is following the old discharge policy under which, a patient is discharged after two consecutive negative test results on the RT-PCR.

Prof Jagat Ram, PGI Director, said: “We are currently following the old procedure of discharge as a majority of the patients are from Bapu Dham Colony and there is a chance that many may contract infection if patients are released before testing negative. Those who have big houses don’t have a problem in isolating themselves.” On May 15, the UT Administration decided to implement the post-discharge policy by designating a Post-Discharge Centre at Sood Dharamshala for mild patients, who are required to be discharged after 10 days from hospitals. This centre is meant for patients who cannot follow home isolation due to scanty space. So far, all eligible to be discharged under the new policy are still at the PGI, said UT Health Secretary Arun Gupta.

Discharge policy 

Is there a risk of transmission from patients discharged based on the revised criteria?

The available evidence does not indicate any increase in the risk of transmission from patients discharged based on the revised discharge criteria. The revised criteria also specifies that such patients will follow home isolation for a further seven days.

Precautions during home isolation

Such patients (with no co-morbidities) should at all time use a triple-layered mask. Patients must stay in an identified room and away from other people at home, especially the elderly and those with co-morbid conditions such as hypertension, cardiovascular disease and renal disease. They should maintain strict personal hygiene and monitor temperature daily and report promptly if their health deteriorates.

Why was the discharge policy changed?

Several countries have changed the criteria for discharge from “test-based strategy” to “symptom-based strategy” or “time-based strategy”. A review of the ICMR laboratory surveillance data indicates that after the initial RT-PCR positive results, patients became negative after a median duration of 10 days. Recent studies have also suggested that the viral load peaks in the pre-symptomatic period (two days before symptoms) and goes down over the next seven days.

2 Doctor quarantined, no fresh case in Chandigarh

A paediatric senior doctor at the PGI was quarantined after a six-year-old boy from UP tested positive for Covid. Another paediatric junior resident, who was treating a six-year-old boy from Ludhiana, was also placed under quarantine after the kid died of Covid on Sunday. The cause of death was acute liver failure, hepatic encephalopathy, refractory shock with respiratory failure and acute hepatitis. Meanwhile, no fresh case was reported from the city for the fourth day in a row on Sunday. All 13 persons who returned to the city from abroad have tested negative.