Not toeing Central line, Bihar to discharge patients only after they test negative

NEW DELHI: The Nitish Kumar-led NDA government in Bihar has decided not to follow the revised discharge policy for Covid-19 patients specified by the Centre and has modified it by stipulating that a negative RT-PCR test would be mandatory before discharging any coronavirus patient from hospital.
The Centre had earlier this month come out with a revised discharge policy, which laid down that Covid-19 patients in healthcare facilities, except severe cases, can be discharged without an RT-PCR test if they do not show any symptoms.

The Bihar government has written to all divisional commissioners and district magistrates in the state saying it has reviewed the central discharge policy and has modified it “based on the suggestions of clinicians and experts to make it more stringent for the containment of Covid-19 in the state”. The modified policy, a copy of which has been seen by ET, recommends that discharge of Covid-19 cases from healthcare facilities should be done “after one negative follow-up result in RT-PCR test for all pre-symptomatic and mild or moderate or severe symptomatic cases”.

The Centre claims that its revised discharge policy is one of the reasons behind the increasing recovery rate, which stands close to 43% nationally at present though it comes with a concern that asymptomatic patients who have still not recovered from Covid-19 infection may end up being discharged. However, the Centre has cited a study from South Korea to claim people don’t pass on infection after 10 days.

Under the new central policy, a mild or pre-symptomatic case admitted to a Covid care facility can be discharged after 10 days of symptoms onset and no fever for three days, while being advised home isolation for seven days and monitoring of health over a telephone call on the fourteenth day. Moderate cases in Covid health centres follow the same route of discharge after 10 days if the patient doesn’t need oxygen for four days after subsiding of fever and exhibit no further symptoms.