NEW DELHI, July 23:
It may be premature to conclude that complications like lung fibrosis and increased thrombotic events due to COVID-19 are on the rise. However, a larger number of cases of fungal infections have been found linked with the coronavirus infection during the recent surge, the Government informed Parliament on Friday.
In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar said the Indian Medical Association (IMA), in a letter dated June 7 addressed to the prime minister, mentioned that post-Covid complications such as lung fibrosis, thrombotic events and fungal infections are on the rise and there is a need to prepare for the same.
It also urged the government to set up a separate research cell to study post-Covid complications and come out with multi-faceted treatment guidelines in all disciplines of medicine, following which expert group consultations under the director general of health services are going on to review the emerging evidence on organ system specific (respiratory system, renal system, cardiovascular and gastro-intestinal) sequelae of COVID-19.
Pawar further said the ICMR has established a National Clinical Registry on Covid with an objective to collect data regarding clinical and laboratory features, treatments and outcomes of hospitalised Covid patients in the country and to study the frequency, clinical and laboratory features, treatments and outcomes of Covid-related multi-system inflammatory disorder in children and adolescents by analysing the registry.
The objective is to utilise the data to answer research questions on COVID-19, including the natural course of the disease, the spectrum of the disease, prognostic factors, outcome data, medications, health systems and context-specific questions such as COVID-19 in tuberculosis, malnutrition etc.
The National Clinical Registry on COVID-19 has been established to serve as a platform for additional clinical research studies in selected sites and to collect follow-up data of discharged Covid patients, if possible.
The registry follows a hub-and-spoke model with primary data being collected in the electronic data capture form by satellite centres (dedicated COVID-19 hospitals), which are being trained, mentored and supervised by medical institutes of national repute chosen region-wise.
In the first phase, 50 satellite centres and 14 registry sites have been included. In addition, all AIIMS-like institutions have been requested to undertake research to study the long-term impact of COVID-19, Pawar said.
“It may be premature to conclude that complications like lung fibrosis and increased thrombotic events directly due to COVID-19 infection are on rise. However, a larger number of cases of fungal infections have been noted linked with COVID-19 during the recent surge,” she added.
Responding to a question on whether the drugs needed for the mucormycosis fungal disease are not available with ease, Pawar said although mucormycosis is not a new disease, its true incidence was unknown as it was not a notifiable disease.
The health ministry urged the states in May to declare mucormycosis a notifiable disease under the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 to get an objective assessment of the disease in the community. (PTI)
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