State’s first post-Covid care centre comes up at RIMS

Jharkhand’s first Post Covid-19 Care and Counselling Centre has come up at the State-run Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in Ranchi where expert doctors will address the residual symptoms in people who have overcome the viral infection but were still dealing with aftereffects of the lethal virus, doctors from RIMS said on Tuesday.

Dr. Prabhat Kumar, the coordinator of the Covid-19 Task Force at RIMS said that the new facility will be a daycare centre, and not have beds. Expert cardiologists, physiotherapists, kidney experts, neurological experts and psychotherapists will provide consultation to Covid survivors with residual symptoms here depending on the nature and severity of their symptoms, added Kumar.

“Many Covid survivors, especially the ones who had developed a severe infection, complain of residual symptoms even after recovering. At this new facility, they will be provided consultation to tackle the symptoms,” said Kumar, adding that experts at the facility will also teach breathing exercises to Covid-19 survivors for strengthening their lungs – the organ which the virus affects the most.

State health secretary Nitin Madan Kulkarni had announced in October that post Covid care centres will come up at six government-run hospitals across Jharkhand. For the purpose, the government shortlisted RIMS in Ranchi, Tata Main Hospital in Jamshedpur, Bokaro General Hospital in Bokaro, Shahid Nirmal Mahto Medical College and Hospital (SNMMCH) and Central Hospital in Dhanbad, and Sheikh Bhikhari Medical College and Hospital (SBMCH) in Hazaribag.

The facility at RIMS will be open for patients from 10am to 11.30 am and from 3pm to 4.30 pm, doctors said. Patients who complain of serious residual symptoms of the infection will be referred to the concerned department after consultation at the facility.

Doctors say that several Covid-19 survivors suffer from residual symptoms like shortness of breath, sore muscles, depression, anxiety, disturbed sleep cycle, poor digestion and even infections in the respiratory tract. Cases have been reported wherein patients developed fibrosis in lungs after testing negative for Covid-19, doctors said, claiming that post Covid care was as important as treatment during an infection.