The onset of monsoon, amidst the growing number of COVID-19 cases, is scaring the common people out of their wits.
Diseases like malaria, dengue, flu, diarrhoea, conjunctivitis and fevers are common during the rainy season and have symptoms similar to that of COVID-19. A simple cold or cough is causing unnecessary anxiety not only in the patient but also his family members and those around him. Patients seem to prefer home remedies or consuming drugs at home, rather than going to a doctor. For example, the only difference in the symptoms between COVID-19 and common flu is that the patient loses his sense of taste and smell in the former but in the latter case, these two are normal.
Private practitioners are said to be averse to treating such cases in view of the pandemic and the lack of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) either due to scarcity or high cost. Patients are also wary of visiting a government hospital for treatment due to the fear of exposing themselves to COVID-19 cases.
Many ophthalmologists and dentists have stopped seeing patients in view of higher risk of catching an infection during the course of treating patients.
On the decline
“The dengue and malaria cases which exceeded last year’s figures during May in the district have declined this month and are lesser than that of June last year. The medical officers at the primary health centres have been given vehicles and medical camps are being conducted in rural areas,” Dr. S. Tirupathi Rao, District Medical and Health Officer, told The Hindu.
“Dengue cases are less this year and this may be due to the desiltation of major drains, extensive fogging and anti-larval operations done to check the spread of COVID-19. Sanitisation and door-to-door surveys for monitoring the health conditions are being undertaken in a big way,” said Dr. K.S.L.G. Sastry, Chief Medical Officer of Health (CMOH), the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation.
