It's All About Covid

For those suffering from illnesses other than COVID, like cancer, diabetes or critical pregnancies, the lockdown has meant their treatment has fallen by the wayside

- Sonali Acharjee

On the evening of April 13, a diabetic, 40-year-old man was admitted to Ariston Multispeciality Hospital in Delhi’s Chittaranjan Park. “He had ketones in his urine and since he was running a slight fever, we tested him for COVID-19,” says general physician and hospital board member Dr Ish Kathpalia, who has been treating the patient for 15 years. Three days later, Dr Kathpalia received the results of the patient’s COVID-19 test. He had tested positive for the virus. The patient has been shifted to Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital and Dr Kathpalia, his family and the Ariston staff, are all in quarantine. The hospital shutting down has been a huge blow for the residents of the neighbourhood who depend on it for emergency care. “The impact on residential clinics and smaller hospitals is significant. If there is one case, we have to shut down completely. We’ll now have to reduce services till the hospital is fully sanitised,” says Dr Kathpalia.

While there is no available data on how the lockdown is impacting those with other illnesses, such as cancer, diabetes, critical pregnancies and thalassemia, or the longterm health of the marginalised, stories of individuals affected are pouring in from across India. In Karnataka, which had 554 cases as of April 22, cancer patients have had to put their chemotherapy on hold. “We are performing chemo but on a much smaller scale. Aggressive chemotherapy is being delayed if possible because we don’t want to immunocompromise a patient,” says Dr Vijaykumar M., director, Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology, Bengaluru. Early studies from Wuhan have shown that cancer patients with COVID should first be treated for the virus before receiving chemo.