The Centre has asked Karnataka to stockpile 12 per cent more drugs than that was consumed during the peak of the second Covid wave when the state saw more than 6.05 lakh cases. The state already has 37 per cent of the required stock of eight essential Covid drugs to meet the Centre's mandate. The eight essential Covid drugs are Heparin, Intravenous Immunoglobulins (IV IG) for
He said currently all taluklevel government hospitals have 50 HFNO beds and six ventilators. Due to lack of specialist manpower, oxygenated beds are being used despite availability of ventilators. “To tackle this, we are recruiting anaesthetists and doctors on contract basis,” he said.
However, while some doctors agree with the minister’s views, other have taken objection, saying clinical indication is important to decide on either HFNO or NIV.
“HFNO consumes a lot of oxygen so, in the current situation, NIV is a better choice with no clinical disadvantage to the patient,” said Dr Sunil Karanth, chairman & consultant, critical care medicine, Manipal Hospitals. He said NIV and HFNO function similarly.
Covid-19: Ventilators or oxygen beds? Doctors differ on efficacy
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Synopsis
In a video conference call with district health officers and deans of medical colleges in the state on Tuesday, health minister K Sudhakar had suggested use of noninvasive ventilators (NIV) for Covid-19 patients instead of oxygenated beds or high flow nasal oxygen bed (HFNO) to tide over the crippling shortage of oxygen. It left the medical community deeply divided.
Doctors in Bengaluru closely working with the government also said clinical need should dictate if a patient needs ICU or invasive ventilation treatment and not state policy or the intention to conserve oxygen. (Representative photo: PTI)
updated: May 10 2021, 08:13 ist
For 38-year-old Vishwanath (name changed), an autorickshaw driver in the city, surviving Covid-19 should have been cause for celebration. But even before he was discharged, he started to feel an unusual pain in his face and a swelling of his eye.
Doctors now say that he has developed a life-threatening fungal infection called mucormycosis (black fungus) which, if untreated, results in blindness followed by death.
Diabetics at risk
Similar infections had been reported during the first wave last year, But for two weeks now, such cases are being found in larger numbers among Covid-19 survivors with uncontrolled diabetes, they added.