With the coronavirus pandemic raging across the country and hospital spaces decreasing, more and more people are being told to quarantine at home if possible.
Most COVID-19 patients who have a mild or asymptomatic disease are being told to quarantine at home for the needed 14 or so days instead of going to the hospital.
That space is being saved for more severe and critical cases whose treatment is not possible at home.
Dr. GC Khilnani, PSRI Institute of Pulmonology, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine and former head of Pulmonary Medicine at AIIMS, New Delhi commented that, “Complacency is likely to be more when at home but in Delhi, cases are touching 1,000 to 1,500, so where do you have so many beds? Home isolation of those without risk factors and those who are comfortable, eating well, do not have breathlessness should stay home and isolate themselves in a room and use a separate bathroom.”
Now to help out people during this time, certain private hospitals have come out with home quarantine facility packages, where for a certain fee they provide a range of services and items that would allow a coronavirus patient to properly recover.
Here are some of those hospitals that are offering home quarantine along with some tips on who would be eligible for a home quarantine and when someone should seek hospital care.
Max Hospital
Max Healthcare Hospital has recently started its Max@Home service. In it they provide a medical kit, daily monitoring by a nurse and a video consultation by a doctor through video call.
They have two packages one:
- Rs 5,000: this includes daily monitoring by a nurse, doctor consultation but excludes a Blood Pressure (BP) machine
- Rs. 7,000: this includes both doctor, nurse and medicine services along with also providing a BP machine
Both the packages are for a period of 15 days which is the current time it takes for a person suffering from a mild case of coronavirus to recover.
When I contacted Max directly their contact person said that the kit is only for those showing mild symptoms and not severe ones.
They also said that first a sample kit would be sent containing a thermometer, BP machine and pulse rate machine. The patient is supposed to remotely carry out the tests and send them back.
If their test comes back positive they are supposed to contact +918744888888 and ask for the Max@Home service package.
This way they said that the medical staff would be able to better trace the patient and their condition.
In the package, they will get
- A medical kit which has a thermometer, pulse oximeter to measure oxygen levels in blood and BP machine.
- Video consultation from their doctor every third day.
- A nursing team will call twice a day to monitor vitals.
- A nursing team would also visit the patient to make sure they are maintaining a good hygiene level, follow-up on their condition and give advice and feedback.
One example they gave was that COVID-19 patients should eat out of a thermocol plate so that it can be discarded once they are done with it.
Their representative also informed that a report of the patient will be sent to the government on a daily basis.
There are some things that are not included and will be charged separately:
- Ambulance for emergency
- Any service outside of the package
- Medicines required for the patient (though they do have free home delivery)
Currently, this facility is only available in the Delhi-NCR region.
Read More: Are You Aware Of WHO’s Updated Guidelines On Using Masks?
Medanta
Medanta Hospital also has come up with several different types of home care services packages going from a basic one to more intricate ones.
They have 4 different package:
An Rs. 4,900 package will include:
- a tool to monitor vitals with a built-in critical alert mechanism,
- daily remote monitoring by a trained nurse,
- 4 consultations by a doctor,
- one consultation by a dietician
These are the basic services and are included in all the rest of the packages, with only some extra additional services.
The Rs. 9,900 package will include:
- 3 ply masks,
- N-95 masks,
- a sanitizer, gloves,
- a digital thermometer and
- an SPO2 meter,
- in addition to items given in the Rs. 4,900 package
The Rs. 11,900 package just offers an additional BP machine along with the items and services offered in the Rs. 4,900 and Rs. 9,900 packages.
The Rs. 21,900 package in addition to the items from the Rs. 4,900 and Rs. 9,900 packages also offers a COVID test and PPE kit
Fortis Healthcare
Fortis Healthcare in Gurugram also offers a home quarantine package. But Dr Ritu Garg, zonal director at Fortis Memorial Research Institute in Gurugram told India Today that only after “the doctor certifies home isolation (post having video consulting session with the patient), the patient is enrolled for our home care package which is priced at Rs 6,000 for 17 days”.
As per reports, the package priced at Rs. 6,000 for 17 days includes:
- An orientation call with a trained Corona medical staff detailing how the patient should carry out the home isolation protocols,
- Self-checking temperature, heart rate, increase in symptoms and any new symptoms, and then reporting them on the Fortis app
- Four doctor consults
- Consultation with a psychologist
- Consultation with a dietician
When Should One Visit The Hospital?
Dr. Jacob John, professor emeritus and former head of virology at Christian Medical College, Vellore has reportedly said that in case of mild symptoms, meaning they don’t have difficulty in breathing or critical symptoms, a person should not visit the hospital.
He believes that going to a hospital could worsen their condition and they should instead register with a medical facility post which, a nurse or doctor should ideally contact them over the phone every day.
He also said that, “Majority of people with Covid-19 will require a pulse oximeter (oxygen saturation metre) and a CT scan of the chest or a good quality chest X ray to see if there is pneumonia. The patient can check pulse oxygen levels at home. Doctor or nurse on call will have to watch for symptoms every day. If fever settles then there is no need for admission, if not a bed can be readied for the patient in hospital. This is needed to un-clutter the system right now.”
As per Medanta, the following signs should be noted on whether someone needs to be hospitalised or not:
- Steady fever of over 101°F for 72 hours,
- Breathlessness or fast breathing,
- Blood in sputum (which is mucus one coughs up),
- Constant pain or pressure in the chest
- Mental confusion,
- Loss of consciousness or altered behaviour
- Lips or face getting a bluish discolouration
- Severe abdominal pain with diarrhoea
- Pulse rate of more than 110 per min or oxygen saturation of less than 94%
But one must carry out the home quarantine with as much focus and attention since only if a person takes all the measures diligently will they be able to recover quickly.
Image Credits: Google Images
Sources: India Today, Hindustan Times, Economic Times
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I want to know if there are any packages for south India like Bangalore – Cheenai.