The Director of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi – Dr. Randeep Guleria today, i.e., Thursday, April 23, 2020 said that Coronavirus (COVID-19) patients are facing a lot of stigma, because of which they are not going to hospital and this, in turn, in resulting in increased mortality.
Addressing the media during Press Information Bureau’s (PIB’s) daily briefing, Dr. Guleria said that we should sympathise with COVID-19 patients and their families instead of stagmatising them. He informed media that many patients, who might have symptoms of OVID-19 are not coming forward owing to this stigma.
'There is Hope as far as treatment is concerned;This is still a disease, not that serious; 90 to 95% people recover; but out of stigma if we don't come forward, delay in treatment may lead to higher mortality': Director, #AIIMS, on treatment of #COVID19 at Media briefing pic.twitter.com/3tCCHn5Kb6
— PIB India #StayHome #StaySafe (@PIB_India) April 23, 2020
Speaking on the occasion, he said, “Patients who have recovered from Covid-19 are facing stigma, this is creating panic and causing hardship for the patients and their family members.”
He further added, “The infected patients are approaching healthcare officials at a later stage which is leading to increased mortality. As many as 95 per cent of these patients can simply be cured with oxygen treatment and close to 5 per cent need ventilators, however, this delay in approaching local healthcare officials is leading to delayed detection and higher mortality.”
Most importantly, he briefed media that plasma infusion technology for treating COVID-19 patients has begun at AIIMS. Delhi has already received the approval form Central Government for carrying out trials of plasma infusion. The plasma infusion technology is based on the blood plasma of patients who have recovered from the outbreak. Once recovered, their blood builds antibodies which helped them to recover. If a recovered patient donates his blood, the plasma is taken out from his blood and is enriched and then injected into an infected patient. These antibodies help the other patient to recover.
Dr. Guleria also informed the media that COVID-19 is not a very deadly disease because 90-95 of those infected can recover. It’s just the delayed treatment caused by stigma, which leads to higher mortality among patients.
Meanwhile, India reported 1,409 cases today. As on today, 12 Districts did not have a fresh case in the last 28 days or more. There are now 78 districts (23 States/UTs) that have not reported any fresh cases during the last 14 Days.
Besides, Maharashtra 431 and Gujarat remain most severely affected States with 431 cases and 229 cases recorded in the last 24 hours respectively. Punjab reported 26 new cases today, taking the total number of infected Cases to 283. Tamil Nadu reported 54 new cases and the total number of cases in the State now stand at 1,683. While Karnataka reported 18 new cases, Jammu & Kashmir and Kerala reported 20 and 10 new cases respectively. With 58 new cases today, the total number of cases in West Bengal rose to 334. Andhra Pradesh also recorded 80 new cases today.
The Chief Minister of Haryana – Manohar Lal Khattar has announced that State Government will provide insurance of Rs. 10 lakh each to all journalists who are reporting during the outbreak. The Delhi Government has ordered for strict compliance of its earlier order which states that landlords cannot demand rent from labourers and students for 1 month. It shall be the responsibility of District Magistrates to undertake awareness campaign on the issues in areas having high density of labourers and students.
Apart from this, the Chief Ministers of the Indian National Congress (INC)-ruled States have hit out at the Centre for not providing enough financial assistance to the States for combating COVID-19. Among those who raised this issue were Chief Minister of Punjab – Captain Amarinder Singh, Chief Minister of Rajasthan – Ashok Gehlot, Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh – Bhupesh Baghel and Chief Minister of Puducherry – V. Narayanasamy.
According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), as of April 23, 2020, a total of 5,00,542 samples from 4,85,172 individuals have been tested. Of these 4,85,172 individuals, 21,797 samples have been confirmed positive. The ICMR has so far released a list of 87 private laboratories who conduct COVID-19 tests. Among the 87 labs, which are set up in 15 States, Maharashtra has the maximum number of 20 labs.
As per the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India, there are more than 21,700 cases of COVID-19 and there have been 686 casualties.
