Obtaining a treatment strategy with the combination of antiviral Remdesivir, plasma and steroid treatment for COVID-19 patients, the state of Goa has attained a 70% success rate informed the Health Minister on Friday, and further stated that Goa will continue the successful treatment protocol along with a continually evolving arrangement to administer and treat post COVID-19 complications with a holistic approach and proper follow-ups.
COVID-19 Treatment Boosts in Goa
“Remdesivir has been approved by the FDA (US Food and Drug Administration), as one of the drugs for Covid-19. In Goa, we have also found that plasma in a combination with Remdesivir and maybe in certain proportion with steroids, has given us excellent results. So, we are going ahead with this protocol as far as Goa is concerned,” Rane told a press conference in Panaji, Goa. “Remdevisir should be given immediately when the patient is admitted within a specific period of time, and if during this period, plasma is administered it helps in raising the saturation level and prevents further damage to the lungs…” he also said.
Health Minister further highlighted that besides primary contraction, a whole host of post-infection problems and health irregularities- like weakened immunity, reduced lung capacity, fibrosis etc – also arise. These vulnerabilities, especially in the elderly age groups, need to be monitored as well treated medically, and a system of counsellors are being put into action to advise the patients undergoing home isolation, for the safety on the family members/inmates.
The Health Minister said that the treatment protocol for COVID-19 had developed since the outbreak and the state government is now working on moving patients under prolonged home isolation directly to government health facilities, to reduce fatalities. Goa’s present virus mortality count marks a total of 564 deaths. “Instructions have been given, that in case after 10 days or 12 days, they find that the patient still has symptoms, they should not waste time, they should shift the home isolation patient to a medical facility. This will help save more lives so that he does not come in a state of breathlessness,” the Health Minister said.
Beefing up COVID-19 Testing
The Health Minister said that the state would scale its testing apparatus to conduct between 2,000 to 2,500 tests daily, to achieve a comprehensive picture of the pandemic status, which marked over 41,586 cases in the coastal state so far. The Health Minister also said that there was little merit in testing entire villages for COVID-19 in case a positive case was found in the vicinity and added that testing needs to be more focussed. “We want to keep testing at a minimum of 2,000-2,500 per day,” he said in a statement.
-With inputs from IANS
