Karnataka engages health consortium for remote home isolation monitoring

If the person's condition worsens, he/she can get in touch with an emergency contact provided, and be connected with the doctor. Credit: AP Photo

The Karnataka government on Sunday said it has engaged Swasth, a non-profit consortium of healthcare partners to provide remote home isolation monitoring services, for the sake of asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic Covid-19 patients.

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The Commissionerate of Health and Family Welfare Services issued a work order on July 17 for Swasth to work with the state to implement a 10-day care package through service providers for patients isolating at home for an initial period of one month, an official release said.

It said, this package will include daily monitoring of patients by healthcare professionals, and periodic check-ins by doctors.

Commissioner, Department of Health and Family Welfare Pankaj Kumar Pandey had conducted a meeting on July 16 with Swasth to discuss its proposal for implementing a system to monitor home isolation for asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic Covid-19 patients.

As more patients with non-serious Covid-19 symptoms are being advised to isolate at home to ensure the availability of beds and resources for severely-ill patients, the system is intended to prevent the spread of the disease and ensure adequate care for patients in home isolation, the department said.

This package will also feature the provision of home healthcare and safety guidelines to patients and caregivers, as well as linkages to emergency support in case of escalation of symptoms, the release said adding state health authorities will inspect patients' homes to ensure their consent and check that it is feasible to enroll them to the home isolation programme.

Authorities will upload patient details and medical history to the Swasth platform, it said adding Swasth will then forward these patient details to service providers who will 'onboard' the patient, allocate a nurse/healthcare professional and doctor to the patient and orient the patient and caregiver on safety measures to maintained during the home isolation period.

The doctor may recommend a patient call the 108 ambulance service or redirect them to government services, it added.