Multidisciplinary team to provide care for long Covid patients

The Ministry of Health is setting up a multidisciplinary team to provide care for long Covid patients.

This announcement was made by Minister, Dr. Frank Anthony, on Thursday during his the COVID-19 Update.

“We are now in the process of organising a multidisciplinary team to provide care for long Covid patients, so this is not just one speciality it’s not just like cardiac… this is going to be a multidisciplinary team.”

Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection or long Covid, as it is commonly called, describes the effects of COVID-19 which persist for weeks or sometimes months after a person was initially infected with the disease. Lasting symptoms of the disease include fatigue, breathlessness, brain fog (lack of focus), chest pains, joint or muscle pains, palpitations, anxiety or depression.

Minister of Health, Hon. Dr. Frank Anthony MP

The minister said the Health Ministry has been observing patients who have recovered from Covid but are now experiencing prolonged symptoms.

He said the multidisciplinary team is important as the Coronavirus in many cases, attacks multiple organs at a time.

“Therefore, you need this multidisciplinary team to assist in the management of some of these patients. So, we’re in the process of setting up that unit to be based at the Georgetown Public Hospital and we will then be able to replicate that to some of our other hospitals depending on the patient load that we’ll see,” Minister Anthony added.

A report by Britain’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) showed ongoing illness after infection with COVID-19. Similarly, a study by Oxford University showed that two to three months after the onset of COVID-19, 64 per cent of patients suffered persistent breathlessness and 55 per cent suffered from significant fatigue. MRI scans also showed abnormalities in the lungs, kidneys, heart and liver.

Meanwhile, to date, 316, 973 persons or 61.8 per cent of Guyana’s adult population have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. A total of 165, 401 persons or 32.2 per cent of the country’s adult population have received both doses of the vaccine. Also, some 4,362 adolescents have received their first jab of the Pfizer vaccine, since Government rolled-out its programme last week.

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