Haryana following Centre’s new Covid-19 guidelines, but with riders

The Haryana government is following Centre’s new guidelines on the treatment of Covid-19 patients, but with some conditions of its own.

Senior doctors said the Centre has asked state governments to allow asymptomatic patients or those with mild infection to stay in isolation at their respective homes, provided they have a separate room and wash room, exclusively for them.

Likewise, the new guidelines also allow the state governments to discharge a patient from the hospital after completion of his/her 14-day treatment even without conducting confirmatory tests.

While these directions aim at enabling the healthcare workforce to focus on the patients requiring intensive care, the state’s senior doctors say the state health department does not want to take any chances, so it has decided to conduct at least one confirmatory test after an asymptomatic or mild patient is cured and two tests for serious patients despite the revised discharge policy.

As per the earlier guidelines, a patient was required to be examined after 14-day treatment and tested. Also, another confirmatory test was required to be done 24 hours prior to discharge.

Apart from testing cured patients, another addition that the state has made is geo-fencing.

The doctors also said it has also been decided to make geo-fencing mandatory for the patients in home isolation. This means that aside from pasting positive case notices outside the houses of Covid-19 patients and stamping their hands, they would be required to download the Aarogya Setu mobile app. This is to ensure that such patients remain isolated in their homes and do not go out to mingle with others, the doctors said.

Claiming that not all states were following the Centre’s guidelines with such riders, top doctors said Jhajjar and Faridabad are among the few districts which have allowed home isolation with the geo-fencing conditions.