The first post-Covid health camp of the city took place in Duttabad on Sunday. And given the range of complications that the recovered patients reported, it proved to be what one of the organisers described as “quite a lesson” for the doctors themselves.
The camp was organised by Protect the Warriors, an organisation of doctors, in association with Sparsho, an initiative of minister and local MLA Sujit Bose.
“The only post-Covid clinic running in the city is in Infectious Diseases Hospital in Beleghata. But because it treats Covid patients too, many who have recently recovered from Covid are scared to visit the place. So we thought of taking post-Covid care to such people in the form of local health camps,” said Abhik Ghosh, secretary of the organisation and an ENT specialist residing in CB Block.
Since Duttabad has as many as 122 recovered patients and most of them are unlikely to get access to or be serious about proper follow-up treatment, it was decided to hold the first camp there.
Response was enthusiastic, with 64 patients, including five children, turning up for the camp, to be checked by 16 doctors from various disciplines.
“Covid-19 can lead to complications later, especially for those who took oxygen therapy for 15-20 days,” said infectious diseases specialist at ID hospital Yogiraj Roy.
“Covid is a new disease about which we know little. We are finding patients reporting breathing trouble and weakness even a month after recovery. Some develop heart or lung problem. There are also complaints of burning sensation during urination, stomach trouble, fever in the evenings...” said Pritam Roy, state coordinator of World Health Organisation.
At the camp, Ghosh came across patients whose sense of taste and smell had not returned even a month and half afterwards. Some had a distorted sense of smell. “They may smell incense sticks while eating mangsho bhaat. Many had such badly damaged lungs that they would have to continue doing breathing exercises and checking on their oxygen level. Also 10 per cent pregnant mothers deliver Covid-positive babies. They also need follow-up treatment.”
PTW plans to send teams to puja pandals to educate organisers about Covid protocol on Tritiya and Chaturthi. “We are planning more camps after Puja,” said Ghosh
