Following reports that Covid-19 recovered patients are grappling with various health issues such as poorer functioning of their lungs, heart and liver, the Union Health Ministry is creating a database of such survivors to help it formulate a long-term clinical management plan.
The ministry has drafted a format for gathering the information while the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is concurrently working on developing a registry of post-COVID-19 sequelae to capture data on the same.
So far, a total of 35,42,663 people from coronavirus infection have recovered in the country, according to government data.
Instances of patients facing post-COVID complications like respiratory, cardiovascular, neurological problems, immunological reactions among children and fibrosis in lungs have come to the fore within the country as well as abroad.
A committee of experts is currently working on a guidance note on possible complications that may afflict recovered patients. The note would be issued to the States so that they can share it with the health facilities in their areas for patients getting discharged.
As per various studies, coronavirus has the potential to attack many parts of the body beyond the respiratory system, causing damage from the eyeballs to the toes, the gut to the
kidneys. Patients’ immune systems can go into overdrive to fight off the infection, compounding the damage done.
Experts from the Delhi-based AIIMS recently have highlighted the need to have post-COVID clinics at all tertiary care hospitals where recovered patients facing health issues can be checked to understand the impact of coronavirus on various organs of the body.