PANAJI
The State’s health department, at its expert committee meeting held on Friday, has decided to adopt a “syndromic approach”, wherein all symptomatic cases with negative RT-PCR test to be regarded as proxy Covid-19 cases.
The Health Minister said that as per the recent guidelines of the World Health Organisation, Goa will now follow a “Syndromic approach”. “All symptomatic cases with negative RT-PCR test will be regarded as proxy Covid-19 cases. The decision to create a new category of proxy Covid-19 patients has been taken based on the revelations from the death audit report,” the minister stated.
The committee has also decided to undertake strict and efficient monitoring of home isolation patients and to distribute home isolation kits to offline patients as well, who do not have access to register themselves on the portal.
In addition to this, patients under home isolation will continue to be counselled to look after their mental wellbeing.
“Each family will be given one kit, along with supplementary medicine supply in case more than one member of the family is infected with the virus. The purchase committee will finalise the order for procuring additional medicines,” the minister informed.
The Health Department has resolved to encourage more testing in the State while also maintaining an optimum balance between RT-PCR and antigen testing.
The minister further disclosed that one more apheresis machine has been installed at Goa Medical College and Hospital in Bambolim in order to amp up the collection of plasma from Covid-19 recovered patients.
The expert committee has also decided to add CT scan as a protocol for suspected symptomatic patients whose RTP-CR is negative, a protocol which has been followed strictly in several top medical institutions across the country since the last four months.
