Following the recent announcement by Medical Education Minister K. Sudhakar that asymptomatic patients would be treated in COVID care centres instead of hospitals, the State government on Friday issued guidelines for clinical assessment and admission of asymptomatic patients into these centres.
Admission will be based on a rapid assessment of positive patients by the district surveillance officer. This includes recording the person’s body temperature, oxygen saturation level, and comorbidities such as hypertension, diabetes, TB, HIV, cancer, stroke, and pregnancy.
“If the person has a body temperature above 37.5°C and the oxygen saturation level is below 94%, and if the person is aged above 60 years or suffers from known comorbid conditions, he or she should be taken to a dedicated COVID hospital or appropriate private hospital as opted by the patient,” the SOP document states. All other patients should be taken to dedicated COVID care health centre or a private hospital. The patients will be assessed clinically, and if after evaluation they are asymptomatic, they will be shifted to COVID care centres.
