Home isolation for COVID-19 patients brought down rate of hospitalisation to 3 per cent: Portea Medical

45 per cent of the patients were high risk; aged above 60 years and with co-morbidities

Portea Medical has provided home isolation services to 4,00,308 COVID positive patients pan India since May 2020. The company’s home isolation programme witnessed encouraging reduction in the rate of hospitalisation to about 3 per cent. 45 per cent of the patients were above 60 years and with co-morbidities and were classified as high-risk.

During the second wave, Portea introduced oxygen therapy for COVID patients, ICU care, chemotherapy and a number of homecare solutions for cancer patients. The company set up isolation and treatment centers to counter the lack of hospital beds apart from introducing new point of care based remote monitoring of health vitals of patients, especially elders. These isolation centers had oxygen therapy beds with 24×7 doctors and nurses available at site. About 75 per cent of the COVID home isolation patients were between 20-59 years while 17 per cent belonged to the above 60 age group and 8 per cent were below 20 years of age. Overall, 34 per cent of the patients presented different co-morbidities – hypertension (13.2 per cent), diabetes (12.9 per cent), obesity (12 per cent), long term steroid therapy (7.1 per cent), thyroid disorder (5.35 per cent) among others.

Speaking about this, Meena Ganesh, MD, Co-Founder and Chairperson, Portea Medical, said, “The COVID-19 outbreak has been an incredibly painful experience for the country. It was during this period that Portea Medical went all out with its home isolation services to ensure that patients who could be managed at home get adequate support and care. This has not only led to reduced rate of hospitalisation but also ensured that the hospital beds are reserved for those who need it the most. We are ramping up our resources in the wake of the Omicron threat and will continue offering our services in times to come.”