Mumbai Oct 07 :- Neither the government nor the private sector was doing enough to address post-Covid complications that people are grappling with, said Dr Sanjay Oak, head of the Maharashtra Covid-19 taskforce, on Thursday. He also said it would be “preposterous” to think that the pandemic was over, although there is certainly a decline in its severity.
“Such a declaration can only come from the World Health Organisation. However, our current numbers are not alarming and are infinitely less than the last two years. The morbidity is less, and patients are no longer dying in front of our eyes,” said Dr Oak.
Cautioning that health systems cannot take their eyes off the pandemic, he said the emerging variants have to be closely followed. Members of the state Covid taskforce and former additional municipal commissioner Suresh Kakani spoke at a panel discussion over the future of the pandemic and lessons learnt by the health systems. The event saw the launch of Kakani’s book on Covid-19 titled Mumbai Fights Back.
Elaborating on post-Covid complications, Dr Oak said a rise in young cardiac deaths and orthopaedic problems is being reported from the world over. “We are not suggesting that Covid or vaccination is leading to more deaths in the young, but it surely needs to be studied and addressed,” he said. The doctors added that the incidence of hip replacements due to avascular necrosis, a known Covid complication, has seen a tremendous rise in youngsters. “People have become oxygen dependent for life. All these begs the question if we are doing enough post-Covid,” said Dr Oak.
Intensivist and taskforce member Dr Rahul Pandit said the mental health toll of the pandemic is seldom talked about. “Now that we are in a lull phase, we must look into its scale,” he said. A Covid survivor himself, Dr Pandit said all health workers lived aloof for 8-9 months during the first wave despite their loved ones staying under the same roof. “Common people saw extreme events, including job losses to paying inflated hospital bills, which has taken a toll,” he said, adding that mental health checks have to be normalised like cardiac check-ups in the post-Covid world.
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