Impact of the spread of COVID-19 to last for the next two years- Indian Medical Association (IMA) Tamilnadu Secretary Dr. Ravikumar

Coimbatore: The Tamilnadu Secretary of the IMA, Dr.Ravikumar has said that the impact of the spread of COVID-19 is likely to last for the next two years.

Coimbatore: The Tamilnadu Secretary of the IMA, Dr.Ravikumar has said that the impact of the spread of COVID-19 is likely to last for the next two years.



He met the press at the IMA Office on Brooke Bond road. During the press meet he said, "All over the world many lakhs of people have succumbed to COVID-19 and in the past three months alone 58 doctors have died of which 32 doctors were affected by COVID-19." Following this the deceased doctors were honoured with silence for a minute.

He further said, "The Central and State governments have been doing an exemplary job of controlling the spread of COVID-19. The number of COVID-19 testing centers should be increased and the government must provide the license for this", he requested and said, "Obituaries for the doctors who die due to COVID-19 can be released on behalf of the government."

"It is alleged that private hospitals are collecting lakhs of rupees as fees for COVID-19 treatment. COVID-19 is a dangerous, contagious disease and doctors who are treating the patients are leading the fight from the frontline. It is like walking on thorns and the doctors and nurses who offer treatment are often affected by the disease.

Considering the treatment, safety equipment and the safety measures undertaken, the cost of treatment increases, leading to hospital managements collecting additional fees", he said. "It takes between Rs.22,000 to Rs.35,000 per day to offer treatment to a COVID-19 patient. Requests have been made to the government to permit the collection of fees.

The government has approved Rs.7,500 per day to be collected as fees and must reconsider this. The impact of the spread of COVID-19 is likely to be felt for two more years', he warned and said "Self discipline of individuals is very important. Wearing face masks, cleaning hands with sanitizers and maintaining social distancing as advised by the government are the ways to help us keep ourselves safe from COVID-19."



Dr. Ravikumar also opined, "Each household can purchase a pulse oximeter or volunteer organisations can be placed a request to buy these pulse oximeters." Hailing that the E-pass and lockdown had helped to control the spread of COVID-19 to a large extent earlier, he said, "We are not sure how helpful another lockdown or E-pass system would be."

"The quantity of antiviral drugs that are available to private hospitals is in shortage and requests have been put forth to the government to rectify this. The number of COVID-19 testing centers must be increased", he requested.

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