Recovered COVID-19 patients develop health complications

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: Post COVID-19 health complications are worrying doctors in the State. Many serious COVID-positive patients have developed lung fibrosis, cardiac and other health problems even after they fought with the virus successfully.

"I am coming across a good number of patients with lung fibrosis [damage to the lung tissue]. The COVID-19 positive patients who had been on a ventilator or had required very high oxygen levels during their hospital stay have now lower oxygen than normal. Such condition is known as lung fibrosis. Any damage to the lung leads to fibrosis, and it is an irreversible damage. That is one of the complications that I have seen. And it happens in quite a few patients," a senior doctor at the Medicine Department of Gauhati Medical College & Hospital said.

A cardiologist at a leading private hospital said some COVID patients had to be admitted to the Cardiology department after they recovered from the virus infection. He said these patients have developed myocardial infarction [a heart attack], some kind of myocarditis prevalent even after the COVID-infection settles down.

"COVID involves a lot of other organs also – kidney, liver issues have been persistent post recovery from the viral illness also," another doctor said.

On other hand many serious COVID -19 positive patients have developed mental complications after they are discharged from the hospitals. "They are very worried to go out and suffering from emotional and mental stress. They are not able to eat well, they have lost weight. Their family has also been suffering because of such development," a psychiatrist who is seeing such patients said.

"The most important thing is to remain mentally strong. Yoga and meditation actually builds up individuals mentally stability and physical health. We have to have a healthy lifestyle, exercise, have the right food, have strong mental health, and yoga and meditation and all that does add to overcoming this illness much more. If one is mentally and physically weak, if he or she has comorbidities, it will obviously makes a person more prone to all these after-effects of the COVID infection, which are more common," the psychiatrist said.

Also watch: #NewsMakers: Doctors Speak on Rising COVID cases in Assam and Unlock 4.0