‘Infected persons must reach hospitals at an early stage but stigma, misconceptions prevent them from doing so’
The Government on Thursday sought to dispel the misplaced notions among the masses with regard to Covid-19 saying as much as 95 per cent of affected patients recover with the simple oxygen treatment.
“But stigma and several misconceptions about the virus are preventing the infected persons from approaching the hospitals at an early stage. As a result, a large number of people are dying,” said Dr Randeep Guleria, Director of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi. India, on Thursday, reported around 650 deaths.
Dr Guleria explained, "Patients who have recovered from Covid-19 are facing stigma, this is creating panic and causing hardship for the patients and their family members. Many patients who might have symptoms of Covid-19 are not coming forward owing to this stigma.”
But we should know that 90 to 95 per cent patients of Covid-19 recover, thus, we have to remember that this is a disease which is not that serious, he said here at a routine press briefing on Thursday. His comments come amid reports of Covid-19 patients and their relatives being hounded by their neighbours and public across the States.
"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," added Dr Guleria.
He stressed on sympathising with Covid-19 patients and their families instead of stagmatising them and look at how we can support Covid-19 patients and their families. More and more people need to come out for testing."
"This (Covid-19) is not a very deadly disease because 90-95 per cent of those infected can recover but the delayed treatment caused by stigma could lead to higher mortality among patients," Dr Guleria reiterated.
"If we have that stigma and we don't come forward we may land up in a situation where because of our delay in treatment we have higher mortality," he said.
According to the UNICEF, stigma can undermine social cohesion and prompt possible social isolation of groups, which might contribute to a situation where the virus is more, not less, likely to spread. This can result in more severe health problems and difficulties controlling a disease outbreak.
Stigma can drive people to hide the illness to avoid discrimination, prevent people from seeking health care immediately as well as discourage them from adopting healthy behaviours.
Guleria also said that the hospitals in India are trying various drugs and new vaccines and medicines are being tracked. He also said that India has also started trying convalescent plasma as a treatment plan for Covid-19 patients.
Convalescent plasma is being used to cure more and more patients and those who have recovered from Covid-19 are the same people volunteering in large numbers to donate their plasma, he added.