In a bid to provide critical medical care to COVID-19 patients in home isolation at their doorsteps, ambulances fitted with oxygen supply along with ICU trained medical staff has been deployed in the Alappuzha district of Kerala.
The district administration has joined hands with National Health Mission (NHM) and the state health department to launch the initiative to address the emergency medical needs including timely oxygen support for COVID patients in home quarantine.
"There are nearly 20,000 COVID positive patients in Alappuzha district. Whenever a call comes the team will rush to the spot. The patient will be shifted from home to the ambulance, where the oxygen saturation level and heartbeat will be monitored. The staff is well trained on what to do depending on the oxygen levels of the patient. They can administer oxygen in the ambulance itself," Dr Ajithakumari, District Medical Officer told ANI.
She said that currently nine ambulances have been converted to provide critical care and it will be increased to 12.
The health experts behind the venture feel that such decentralised medical care would help in providing timely medical care to COVID-19 patients particularly those in rural areas.
"It is the need of the hour to provide the critical care at the doorstep. Though we do not have any previous experience of this kind of medical management, the situation calls for such steps. By this way we could provide the much-needed critical medical care on time which will help to bring down mortality rate," said Dr Sabu Sugathan, who is part of the medical support team.
Dr KR Radhakrishnan, NHM, Alappuzha said that the staff including nurses and nursing assistants accompanying each ambulance are provided adequate training.
"The medical staff having ICU knowledge will alert the district control room regarding patient's condition. So once the ambulance reaches the nearby COVID first-line treatment centre or a hospital the team there will be ready for treating the patient," he added.
According to Union Health Ministry, Kerala has 2,33,425 active COVID-19 cases. The total number of recoveries in the state has reached 22,52,505 and fatalities have mounted to 8,455.
( With inputs from ANI )
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