NEW DELHI:
Sudden deaths
of Covid-19 patients, both on arrival at the emergency department as well as those admitted to hospital, have prompted the health ministry to ask doctors to strictly monitor patients with risk factors or with prior co-morbid conditions such as chronic lung disease.
“Reasons that have been proposed include a sudden cardiac event, preceding silent hypoxia that went unnoticed or due to a thrombotic complication such as pulmonary thromboembolism,” says a document released by the health ministry on clinical management of Covid-19 patients in ICUs.
More on Covid-19“They should not be allowed to move unattended. Anticoagulant should be used in all at-risk patients who do not have any risk factors of bleeding,” it added. The document, drafted by AIIMS-Delhi, comes in the wake of rapidly increasing number of deaths of Covid-19 patients. It also aims to check arbitrary practices by doctors treating Covid patients across India by detailing whether certain drugs should be used in such patients.
The document, called FAQs on Covid-19, asked doctors not to use antifibrotics like pirfenidone (to prevent lung fibrosis) and methylene blue, an oxidation-reduction agent. It also does not include some of the drugs that have been approved by the drug regulator under emergency authorisation.
The document also says that either tocilizumab or remdisivir should not be given to suspects who aren’t confirmed patients of Covid-19.