Covid-19 and comorbidities

Warangal: When the certainty of Covid-19 is its uncertainty, you are not left with many choices. Just go by what the doctors say. Uncertainty surrounding Covid-19 is widespread, especially in regard with the patients with coronavirus who have comorbidities such as cardiovascular diseases.

In a bid to enlighten the people with comorbidities, The Hans India spoke to renowned cardiologist Dr Ramaka Srinivas. The excerpts from the conversation…

First and foremost, patients with coronavirus do not need to panic whether they have co morbidities or not. If you do not have any symptoms and oxygen saturation is normal, nothing to worry, however, you may have mild Covid-19. If you have a history of heart disease, diabetes, hypertension or lung problem, it's time for you to consult a doctor even if you do not have any symptoms. Monitor temperature and oxygen saturation regularly. If the oxygen saturation is less than 94%, then go to the doctor and you may need hospitalisation as per his advice.

If you are home quarantine, everyone in the house needs to use a mask preferably double mask and there should be a caretaker for 24 hours. More importantly, it's advised that those who contracted Covid-19 should not stop cardiac medications. It's advised to take the vaccine four to eight weeks after recovering from coronavirus.

Advisory regarding vaccination: All those who have heart disease, cancer, kidney problems can take a vaccine. No need to stop drugs before vaccines without a doctor's advice. Expressing concern over the non-Covid-19 patients with heart diseases, kidney problems etc, Dr Srinivas said, "With there was a scramble for beds in hospitals, the government needs to ensure proper treatment to them. Only, the Osmania Hospital among the State-run is catering to non-Covid-19 patients. This is where Health officials need to give priority to non-Covid-19 patients based on their condition."

Stating that coronavirus can injure the heart directly or indirectly due to the inflammatory response that includes heart muscle injury, he emphasised the need for studies on Covid-19 recovered patients. He said that his Srinivasa Heart Centre has initiated a study of recovered Covid-19 patients using special echo techniques and parameters.