The health department has launched an initiative to spread awareness about what a Covid-19 patient should do while in home isolation to clear misconceptions and make it easier for doctors to handle such patients when they are rushed to hospital during an emergency.

The department, officials said, wants to explain to the people who can opt for home isolation after testing positive, the need to use pulse oximeters, the role of a caregiver at home and when a patient can return to normal life.

Copies of synopsis of the guidelines for home isolation, drawn up by the ministry of health and family welfare, have been printed in Bengali and will be distributed as part of the campaign. The contents have been divided into sections dealing with who can stay in home isolation, when treatment is required and directives for caregivers.

The campaign will be launched in parts of Bidhannagar, South Dum Dum, Baranagar, New Barrackpore and Barrackpore, the pockets that have seen a large number of Covid-19 cases.

The leaflets — one lakh will be distributed in the next few days — list seven numbers of a Covid control room in North 24-Parganas and two WhatsApp numbers where one can post a message in an emergency.

Health department officials said there were still misgivings among a large number of those who had opted for home isolation. Many patients are not aware why it is important to check their blood oxygen saturation frequently while at home. There are doubts about whether patients can meet visitors and when to call up and seek advice from a doctor.

As a result many patients are being brought to hospital in a critical condition.

“A few days back, a senior citizen with several comorbidities such as diabetes and hypertension turned up with a blood oxygen saturation level of 70 per cent. This patient could have been handled better (had there been proper awareness),” said Yogiraj Ray, a doctor attached to the Infectious Diseases Hospital in Beleghata.

On the other hand, health department officials said, some patients whose level of infection is low enough for home isolation are looking for hospital beds.

An overwhelming sense of fear and stigma about the infection is only making the situation more complicated. Metro has reported several times how neighbours are ostracising Covid patients and their families.

“Misgivings go away when there is a clear understanding and that helps both patients and the doctors,” a health department official said. “We have observed that beds in safe homes in North 24-Parganas are lying

vacant. Many who have tested positive and lack enough space at home to stay isolated from others are unwilling to shift to safe homes,” an official posted in the Covid cell of North 24-Parganas said.

Experts from Sasthya Bhavan who have been monitoring the condition of Covid-19 patients in hospitals have observed that on several occasions patients who were being brought in had progressed from stage II to stage III of the coronavirus infection and were in need of intensive care.

“Many such patients could have been managed at home had the caregiver been aware about the parameters that need to be continuously monitored,” Ray said.