Around 200 patients are admitted to Kidwai Institute of Oncology in Bengaluru
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In a bid to ensure that COVID-19 fatalities in Karnataka do not rise, the state government has started testing cancer patients for the novel coronavirus. Medical Education Minister Dr Sudhakar K on Friday announced that the testing drive had already started in Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology, a state-run facility in Bengaluru. A decision to expand the scope of testing to cancer patients in other hospitals is yet to be taken, sources close to Dr Sudhakar said. Speaking to TNM, Dr Prabha, Resident Medical Officer and the nodal officer for COVID-19 in Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology said at present there are around 200 patients admitted in the wards and they need critical care. Other than the patients who are already admitted, there are on average 200 floating patients who come to the oncology department for regular check up and follow up. She said, “We don’t have any reason to suspect that the patients were exposed to the virus. But this is due to the reason that for roughly 25% of all cancer patients, their immunity is pretty low and as a result they are more susceptible to the virus. That is why we have to be very careful that every patient and their attender is not infected. And for many patients due to their treatment, their immunity goes down. Again 40% of the patients who are admitted here are elderly so naturally their immunity is lower than healthy adults, so they have a higher chance of contracting the disease.” As per the latest testing strategy by the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) only a certain category of people may be tested using the RT-PCR (real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction) kits. These are symptomatic persons who have international travel history; symptomatic contacts of a confirmed COVID-19 patient; symptomatic healthcare workers; all severe acute respiratory illness patients; asymptomatic individuals of direct and high-risk contacts of a confirmed case. In addition to these individuals, ICMR has also asked authorities to test in clusters or hotspots all persons who display symptoms of influenza-like-illnesses (ILI). On April 20, ICMR also issued guidelines for authorities to ensure asymptomatic pregnant women who reside in cluster areas and are likely to deliver in five days, are tested for the novel coronavirus. Till date, Karnataka has reported 18 deaths with all except one patient dying of comorbidities. The number of total cases in the state as of Friday afternoon are 463 with 150 of them already discharged from hospitals following recovery.
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