Mangaluru, May 23: Criticising the Karnataka government's fresh protocol for management of Covid-19 as expensive, a prominent physician in the city has demanded its withdrawal.
According to Dr B Srinivas Kakkilaya, the protocol released by the Health and Family Welfare Department on May 15 enlists unnecessary and unconfirmed tests and treatments.
The protocol has classified Covid-19 cases into three categories and has provided for hospitalisation of all three categories of patients, from asymptomatic to the most severely ill.
In a letter to the government, Dr Kakkilaya said: "The protocol suggests several investigations to be done right on the day of admission, including blood counts, liver and renal function tests, chest X Ray, ECG, CT scan of the chest, and other special investigations, all of which, if done, will cost Rs 25,000 per patient."
"In the coming days when lakhs of patients are likely to be infected with SARS CoV2, is it necessary and feasible to hospitalise and test all these patients at Rs 25,000 per person," he questioned.
The treatment options suggested in the protocol are also surprising, he pointed out. "The protocol recommends choloroquine, azithromycin, oseltamivir, zinc and vitamin C for all patients, from asymptomatic to the severely ill, and also anti coagulant injections for many patients. All these would cost at least Rs 5,000 per patient. For severe cases of Covid-19, many unproven and experimental treatments have been suggested, which are very expensive and highly questionable," Dr Kakkilaya notes.
Therefore, this protocol, he asserted was not evidence based and likely to do more harm than good. He said these unnecessarily expensive tests and allowing private companies to conduct trials on Covid-19 patients is likely to be misused by vested interests and must be immediately withdrawn, and instead, a protocol that is evidence-based, simple and avoiding unnecessary expenses, must be developed.
Comments
Nothings to get shock. These people are expert in cooking up of stories and forcefully convert all lies as true. Ms. Shobha unfortunately was Minister and now MP that too in District like Udupi. We never expect any kind of apology from her because she has long back lost that credibility of pleading guilty from people. \It's suits her and her followers\". Enjoy."
But, why importance to RSS activists over other Indians? Hundreds of people murdered in Karnataka in last four years for various reasons like family dispute, property row etc. But, why she is ignoring those deaths? Just because they don’t fetch her political mileage?
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