Psychological Trauma a Major Concern in Patients, Says Head of Lok Nayak Hospital After Covid-19 Recovery

Dr Suresh Kumar, 56, has his hands full. The medical director of the capital’s largest Covid-19 facility, Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan (LNJP) Hospital, has been under intense scrutiny for over a week after reports of poor management of patients and dead bodies at the hospital.

Two days ago, union home minister Amit Shah visited the hospital to review its preparedness for a surge in Covid-19 patients in the capital. The Supreme Court also took suo motu cognizance of patient mis-management at the hospital after the media reports.

All this happened soon after Dr Kumar himself recovered from Covid-19 infection. Kumar spoke to News18.com over the phone about his experience in dealing with the infection and stressed that taking care of mental well-being was crucial during isolation and recovery.

“Fever, breathlessness and constant coughing are the common symptoms of this infection but it also causes a lot of psychological trauma. You lose your sense of smell, taste, your appetite and this also leads to an overall drop in your energy levels. I personally experienced weight loss,” Dr.Kumar said.

Elaborating on the concerns around psychological trauma, he said, “Being a highly contagious disease, there is constant anxiety and fear in the mind of patient that they may have spread it to family or colleagues. It is not a disease that affects one person but the entire family and maybe even those in the community. That can cause a psychological breakdown among patients. The families of patients live in a state of uncertainty too.”

Dr Kumar tested positive for Covid-19 on May 30 and was admitted in an isolation ward of LNJP hospital. He recovered in 15 days without needing any oxygen support. Describing his symptoms, he said he initially developed cough and was under the impression it was a common cold or routine viral illness.

“When the cough persisted, I got myself tested. I only developed cough and I felt very weak. Fortunately, I did not need any oxygen support and I recovered well,” he said.

When asked about the criticism against the hospital for not making it easy to get admitted, he said, “About 50% of our capacity is available right now. We are streamlining the process and real-time information is being shown on an electronic display on availability of beds put up now. We are still not taking asymptomatic patients because we send them to care centres. Only those who are seriously ill are admitted.”