Tumakuru :

“No one has died from COVID-19 under my care. One patient had cancer and he died of cancer,” asserted Dr Arun Ranganath, who has been treating the intubated patients in the ICU of Maine General Medical Centre, Augusta, USA.

The physician who hails from here has treated five patients aged between 63-80 successfully and they have been discharged with one more person still getting treatment under his supervision

The expert doctor, who has had stints at hospitals in the UK, at Safdarjang in New Delhi, has been in Maine Centre for eleven years. For four years, he has been the director of the ICU and is triple board-certified in internal medicine, pulmonary and critical care.

Speaking with The New Indian Express, the shy doctor shared his experience as he has been working for over 14 hours daily at the 200-bed hospital. The young doctor says the best supportive care on a ventilator – with the pulmonologist, anaesthetist and intensive intervening at the right time – will make a difference as the rate of patient recovery will be high.

“We have also treated with some steroids, hydroxychloroquine, and azithromycin but I am not sure if it made a huge difference. I am not sure about their efficacy but at least they don’t hurt as some of the studies done in France show a mortality benefit,” he explained.

Interestingly, the doctor’s wife Nagaveni Thimmappa also works as a data analyst with the hospital as his colleague and the couple have risked their lives, leaving their little daughters aged twelve and seven years under the care of a nanny.

Hailing from Sira town, which witnessed a death due to COVID-19 and a positive case, Arun did his MBBS at Mysuru Medical College. Sadly, he lost both his parents Ranganath and Shivakumari in his childhood.

“My aunt, father’s sister, Dr Jayalakshmi, working at the government hospital at Challakere in Chitradurga district motivated me to become a doctor. My paternal uncle Panduranga educated me,” he informed.

He suggested that the shared responsibility is the need of the hour as the entire community including the doctors, the staff at the hospital and the public, in general, are at the risk of contracting the virus.

“There are definitely risks involved in the process. I can’t imagine any other better person than the physician to take that risk. On the same note, they have to protect themselves with appropriate masks and hand hygiene. They have to take care of themselves first to take care of others but that doesn’t mean that they should shy away from the responsibilities,” he advised.

He also suggested that in a country like India, the general duty doctors at the hospital should also be trained in handling critical care including the ICU as soon as possible.

“India can just not relax as the cases detected are less but should keep in mind that there might be ten times more asymptomatic carriers and the latter should be subjected to diagnosis and kept in quarantine. Early detection is the key,” he warned.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Good News  / by Devaraj B. Hirehalli / Express News Service / April 15th, 2020