A Chinese expert in a videoconference with Bangladeshi practitioners has suggested ‘proper’ oxygen saturation therapy to all patients with coronavirus to avoid fatalities.
The level of oxygen saturation should be within the range of 92 percent to 96 percent, Prof Zhang Wenhong, head of the Center for Infectious Disease of Huashan Hospital of Fudan University in Shanghai, who treated 600 COVID-19 patients, said.
He stressed on treating patients in field hospital with the facilities to accommodate mild, moderate and severe cases for better outcomes.
This will help to avoid further infections inside the hospital. “Mild cases can become moderate and then severe if not properly taken care of,” he said, adding that home quarantine might not work properly in the countries like China and Bangladesh where people live in crowded conditions.
“Purpose of mobile hospital is to accommodate mild, moderate and symptomatic cases where you can monitor them closely and provide oxygen therapy and follow cardiac signs so that mild cases do not go into moderate condition,” he said. “In the US and Europe, home quarantine was successful because they live in big houses”.
He did not suggest testing of all without any symptoms and said people should not be allowed inside the hospital for testing to avoid further infections.
He suggested opening a fever clinic outside the hospital where doctors would test them and make sure those who with mild symptoms would be sent back home and quarantined and serious patients will be admitted to hospitals. The home quarantine must be ensured strictly, he said.
“Hospitals should not take all the patients with symptoms. That will lead to infections inside the hospitals,” he said. “But the oxygen therapy is critical for all patients with symptoms.”
The professor said of the total cases, around 20 percent would be severe cases. “15 percent of them would be needed non-invasive ventilators and the rest 5 percent would be needed invasive or mechanical ventilator in ICU.”
“It is important to provide oxygen saturations therapy to all patients. The level of saturation should be within the range of 92 percent to 96 percent.
“It is important to make sure the level does not go below the benchmark 92 percent. Otherwise it will be inadequate for patients,” he said, otherwise the treatment would be costly and expensive.
“One principal oxygen therapy is really critical to all patients with symptoms. Otherwise mortality rate would go up,” he repeatedly said. The professor also stressed on sufficient nutrition for the patients for better outcomes.
“Make sure patients get enough and proper nutrition and always emphasis on support therapy,” he said, as there is no specific drug effective for the treatment.
“According to the data, none of the anti-viral therapy we have tried so far proved truly effective”. “Carrying out proper support treatment is critical to stop further progression of some mild cases,” he said.
As the mortality rate in Bangladesh so far is around 10 percent, he said high mortality does not always mean that the healthcare is ‘inadequate’.
One thing can be, he explained, you are diagnosing and treating severe cases. If you only diagnose severe cases, then the mortality tends to be very high.
“If you diagnose people with no symptoms and mild symptoms, then you have large number of infected patients that will have lower rate of mortality”.
Health Minister Zahid Maleque connecting the videoconference sought increased support from China about personal protective equipment and ventilators.
Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Li Jiming assured him all out support and said a medical team will soon be arriving in Bangladesh to help the government.
Earlier the Bangladesh and Chinese foreign ministers spoke over phone and discussed about the possible cooperation that includes sending medical team and ventilators to Dhaka.
