In a major relief to people who have tested COVID-19 negative but are still showing symptoms, the Yogi Adityanath government has directed all the medical facilities to treat them as presumptive coronavirus cases.
The order, issued by additional chief secretary (ACS), heath and family welfare, Amit Mohan Prasad, said that the suspected symptomatic cases who test negative in the Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) method but show physiological changes like positive patients, corroborated and co-related on basis of blood test, CT scan or doctor's opinion, should be treated as a positive case and given treatment be given as per protocol.
The order further said that such patients will be treated at designated Covid-19 hospitals but they may be kept separate from the clearly positive cases.
Physicians in particularly Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences and King George's Medical University, have noticed cases of Covid symptoms but had tested negative. They could not be treated as per protocol as they did not belong to either of the existing category - Covid or non-Covid.
As a result, RT-PCR negative persons with mild-moderate symptoms had to resort to self-medication or depend on informal advice of their doctors.
Abhishek Shukla, geriatric physician, one of the first ones to flag the issue, said, "Many such patients turned to us for help. We proceeded only after explaining the risks involved and also taking clear consent."
Official sources said that the treatment regimen for such patients is also being worked upon and will be released by the state medical education department shortly.
The move was lauded by the doctors and scientists' community.
The order speaks for the fact that inputs from the field are being attended. It will contribute in checking non-Covid deaths.
Community epidemiologist Dr Vishwajeet Kumar said on the reason for samples testing RT-PCR negative, "First of all, RT-PCR is not fail-safe. There is a chance of getting 20-30 per cent false negative cases. Then, the virus could have mutated. Thirdly, the system is under deep stress and the chances of human errors cannot be ruled out."
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