Recovered Covid patients require longer care, says AIIMS’ director

Dr Randeep Guleria, director of Delhi’s All India Medical Sciences (AIIMS) advised people who recovered from Covid-19 to stay under care and take medicines for a longer period of time.

“If the symptoms are seen for 4-12 weeks, it is called ongoing symptomatic Covid or post-acute Covid syndrome. If symptoms are seen for more than 12 weeks, it is called post-Covid syndrome or non-Covid,” Dr Guleria said during a routine press briefing.

Some of the symptoms that recovered patients experience are trouble in breathing despite normal lung function and capacity, cough for weeks, chest pain, anxiety and increased pulse rate, the senior doctor said. “These symptoms are post-Covid or Covid are due to the body’s immune system or inflammatory response,” doctor said.

Another common symptom is chronic fatigue syndrome, with people complaining of joint pain, fatigue body ache and head ache, and requires symptomatic treatment, Guleria said. “There’s another symptom, generally termed as ‘brain fog’ on social media, seen in those recovered from Covid who find it difficult to concentrate and suffer from insomnia and depression,” he said.

Dr Randeep Guleria advised recovered patients to approach multi-disciplinary post-Covid clinics for rehabilitation treatment. “I want to stress that as the recovery rate goes up, post-Covid patients will also go up and we should prepare so that we are able to manage them.”