Role of private doctors crucial in fight against Covid-19: Uddahv Thackeray

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday stressed on the role of private doctors specially family physicians in the fight against Covid19 saying they can help in early diagnosis of the infection in their patients and facilitate timely treatment for themAddressing around 700 private doctors from across the state during a meeting held via video conference Thackeray appealed to them to join hands with the state administration to curb spread of the viral infectionIn a unique collaborative effort convened by CM Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray experts from the State Task Force guided 700 private doctors in Mumbai via video conferencing this afternoon They resolved their doubts and also updated them on COVID treatment protocolsmdash CMO Maharashtra CMOMaharashtra May 9 2021He said if family physicians keep a check on the treatment of their patients in home isolation and update ward officers regularly the civic body concerned can make arrangements for their further treatment in a proper wayFamily doctors play an important role If they guide patients at the initial stage of the infection it will be helpful to curb the virus spread They can identify symptoms and check whether a patient is asymptomatic or needs hospitalisation he saidThe CM said family doctors should focus on patients in home isolation so that if required they can be shifted to hospitals timelyHe appealed to private doctors to register themselves with the Covid19 care centres and jumbo field hospitals in their localities and visit the facilities for consultationldquoIt is necessary to have uniformity in the treatment protocolrdquo he addedThackeray also said the states oxygen production capacity is 1270 metric tonnes but due to the surge in Covid19 cases the demand has risen to 1700 MTWe have prepared short and longterm plans to become selfsufficient in oxygen and the enhanced production capacity of the lifesaving gas will be realised soon he saidDuring the meeting the state governments task force of medical experts comprising Sanjay Oak Shashank Joshi Rahul Pandit Tatyarao Lahane and others informed private medical practitioners about Covid19 treatment protocolsThey told the doctors about use of steroids importance of sixminute walk test how to identify the need for giving oxygen identifying reduction in oxygen level treatment of mucormycosisa fungal infection detected in Covid19 survivors use of key antiviral drug Remdesivir and taking care of patients on ventilatorsThackeray said a paediatric task force is also being set up by the state government as experts are of the view that the third wave of Covid19 could affect childrenAround 700 private doctors participated the virtual meeting on Sunday while 300 doctors had attended a meeting held some days back via video conference with Thackeray and the task force members a statement issued by the Chief Ministers Office saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever