Bengaluru: 910 home isolated Covid patients lost their lives in 107 days

Bengaluru: 910 Covid-19 patients lost their lives between March 1 and June 15, according to the BBMP’s death audit committee.

Out of these, East Zone accounted for 251 and Mahadevapura for 244 which was more than half of the deaths. Bommanahalli had the least deaths with 8. Dasarahalli had 38, Yelahanka 70, South Zone 73, West Zone 107, and RR Nagar 119. A member of the state’s Covid-19 task force said that those who died in home isolation were not limited to Bengaluru only, but other places too witnessed the same.

A task force member said, “They are the real victims, whose lives perhaps could have been saved if there was an early medical intervention. Initial lack of symptoms or mild symptoms may have misled these patients. When their symptoms worsened, they may not have been able to get a hospital bed.”

Experts say that one of the reasons could also be a lack of self-monitoring through pulse oximeters.

A 35-year-old man in Jayanagar died in such a way. He tried in vain to search for a hospital bed. He had developed acute breathing problems and even headed to a nearby BBMP primary health centre, but he returned home as there was no help available and died later.

Deaths in home isolation came to light when BBMP officials called in households to check on the family members.

An official said, “BBMP has proactively called patients in home isolation even after day 10 to check if there were any case of home isolation deaths. That’s how several such cases came to the notice of authorities. We are not sure if other districts and metros have followed the same system. This finding has helped families claim insurance benefits for Covid-19 related deaths.”

There were lakhs of people admitted there in late April and May. The health of many worsened due to the non-availability of hospital beds. Covid positive patients in the rural area are not allowed to isolate themselves at home. This was imposed to prevent the spread of infection to family members.

A BBMP official said that in Bengaluru too, there were many people who were in home isolation without even approaching a doctor.

The BBMP official said, “Much later during the second wave, we began triaging all Covid infected people soon after they tested positive. Some were allowed to stay in home isolation, while others were sent to Covid Care Centres or taken directly to hospitals based on clinical examination.”

He added that many patients claimed that they were monitored by their family doctors and managed to escape from BBMP monitoring.