Adviser to the Administrator – Chandigarh Released Pictorial Booklet
COVID-19 & HOME-BASED CARE: Beating The Waves
Shri. Dharam Pal, Adviser to the Administrator, released a pictorial booklet ‘COVID-19 & HOME-BASED CARE: Beating The Waves’ to aware the general public about the home-based care of COVID-19. Dr. Vinod K. Paul, Member- Health, NITI Aayog, has written a foreword of the home-care booklet. He mentioned that the pictorial booklet guides about home isolation and provides instruction for caregivers and patients, treatment for patients with mild or asymptomatic disease in home isolation, when should you seek medical help and when should you stop being isolated at home.
Shri. Dharam Pal, IAS, and Adviser to the Administrator, during the release, mentioned that the current COVID-19 pandemic taught us that we need to expand primary care. As the first line of protection, primary care strengthens the patient’s ability to manage infection at home, minimize transmission risk, and prevent overcrowding in hospitals. He stressed that with COVID-19 appropriate behavior and vaccines, we could significantly reduce the impact of COVID-19 if cases arise in the near future. He highlighted that this infographic booklet on home-based care would be a valuable tool to enhance self-care in patients who are suspected or confirmed COVID-19.
Prof Ashish Bhalla, Department of Internal Medicine, said that the purpose of this booklet is to educate about COVID-19 and home-based care using easy-to-understand graphics. He stressed that it is crucial to keep monitoring the vital symptoms during the COVID-19 home care. He specifically mentioned that patients or caregivers should be in direct contact with doctors during home isolation and should update their conditions regularly.
Dr. Suman Mor, Chairperson and Associate Professor, Department of Environment Studies, Panjab University, Chandigarh, mentioned that this booklet will help to beat the impact of the third wave as experts suspect that due to massive vaccination, the future COVID-19 wave could have patients with none or mild symptoms.
Dr. Ravindra Khaiwal, Additional Professor, Department of Community Medicine & School of Public Health, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education & Research, Chandigarh, highlighted that this booklet provides basic instructions on home isolation, treatments, recording of vital parameters, clinical stratification, including best practices such as proning to manage COVID-19 patients with mild symptoms.
COVID-19 and Home-based care pictorial booklet is written and designed by Dr. Ravindra Khaiwal and Prof Ashish Bhalla from Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education & Research, Chandigarh including and Dr. Suman Mor, from Panjab University, Chandigarh, in partnership with the Indian Association of Preventive and Social Medicine (IAPSM, India) for wider public outreach.
Prof. Jagat Ram, Director, PGIMER, Chandigarh and Prof. Raj Kumar, Vice-chancellor of Panjab University, both appreciated the author’s initiatives.
