This is an archive article published on July 17, 2020
Home isolation and plasma therapy process gain ground in Pimpri-Chinchwad
Civic health officials said initially, patients were insisting that they be admitted to the hospital. "This was out of fear. We explained and counselled them that though they have tested positive, they have mild symptoms or are asymptomatic.
Home isolation process, the PCMC chief said, will reduce a huge load on civic resources. (Representational)
EVEN as plasma therapy process has been started at civic-run YCM Hospital in Pimpri, after initial resistance to it, the home isolation process also seems to be gaining ground among Covid-19 patients in Pimpri-Chinchwad. In last three weeks, as many as 650 patients have been isolated at home. Thirteen patients, who were in a critical condition and given plasma therapy, have recovered.
“Of the 650 patients who have been home isolated, 250 have completed their home isolation process,” said Municipal Commissioner Shravan Hardikar on Thursday. Of the 3,500 active cases, nearly 20 per cent had opted for home isolation. “The home isolation process has found acceptance among people,” he said.
Patients with mild symptoms or those who are asymptomatic are isolated at home. Only those who have a separate a room, toilet and bathroom facility are allowed home isolation. Those living in single rooms in chawls or slums are barred from the process. Even co-morbid patients are not allowed to home isolate.
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Civic health officials said initially, patients were insisting that they be admitted to the hospital. “This was out of fear. We explained and counselled them that though they have tested positive, they have mild symptoms or are asymptomatic. We told them that even if they were isolated at home, they will be constantly monitored by us,” said a civic official.
Hardikar said such patients have to remain in isolation for 17 days. “… We will monitor them for 10 days and remaining seven days they have to do self-monitoring. ”
The PCMC chief said a 24 X 7 call centre has been set up at the civic headquarters in Pimpri. “We have appointed a 10-member staff to track the patients. They call up such patients twice a day…,” he said.
Home isolation process, the PCMC chief said, will reduce a huge load on civic resources.
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The PCMC chief also said the plasma therapy process has been started at the civic-run YCM Hospital, where so far 13 patients, whose condition had turned serious, have recovered. “Plasma therapy has been initiated following directives from the state government,” he said.
Profeddor Pravin Soni, in-charge of department of medicine, said, “All the 13 patients were on non-invasive ventilators. They were given the plasma, which was from Covid-19 patients who have recovered. Once the patient recovers, she develops antibodies. When such recovered patients donate blood, the plasma is separated from their blood and stored. The plasma is separated through a plasma separator. The recovered patient’s consent is taken for blood donation..,” he said.
Professor Soni said plasma therapy has its own risks and needs careful administeration and monitoring. “Within 24-48 hours, we get to know if there is any improvement in the patient’s condition… as per my information, the therapy has also claimed 4-5 lives,” he said.
Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades.
Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives.
Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees.
During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa.
Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died.
Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More
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Home isolation process, the PCMC chief said, will reduce a huge load on civic resources. (Representational)
