GURUGRAM: Since April 2021, 31-year-old Anuradha, a market analyst, has been suffering from inflammatory bowel disease, but did not visit a hospital, afraid that she would catch a Covid infection. Now, she suffers from an auto-immune disease for which she will be on medicines for the rest of her life.
The two pandemic years have worsened existing ailments or added complications in many patients that doctors say they have been seeing because of treatment getting delayed either because healthcare facilities and professionals were preoccupied with Covid or the patients and their families did not want to risk exposure.
Anuradha’s brother Anish said that when the Covid case load was high, they did not think a hospital visit would be right. “We decided she would get treatment at home through online consultancy, but her condition got worse. Now, it seems like we are losing her every day. She is currently on anticoagulant drugs and constant monitoring,” he said.
During long phases of the pandemic, particularly during the three waves, patients had to put elective surgeries such as knee replacement, gall bladder removal and cataract surgery on hold, simply because most hospitals were not offering these.
Sanjiv Singh (68), a resident of Sector 50, has been waiting for his knee surgery for a year now. It was due in the first week of January 2021. “Doctors told me to put the surgery on hold, saying all elective surgeries would get postponed. Now, I am unable to go for morning walks. I am worried that it might be too late for the surgery, and I might not be able to walk again,” he said.
Ramesh Kumar (61), who lives in Sector 28, said his cataract surgery was due in the second week of April 2021 when the second wave of Covid hit the city. “Doctors told me to put the operation on hold. Now, the cases have come down, and I have taken vaccines. However, I still fear going out as I have diabetes and heart disease. I cannot read or watch television because of my eye condition, but I’m scared of contracting Covid if I visit a hospital. At my age, it can be dangerous,” he said.
Doctors agreed fears of getting infected by Covid kept a large section of patients with heart complications and other illnesses away from hospitals. “Time-sensitive treatments such as chemotherapy and some elective surgeries also got delayed,” said Dr Vikas Deswal, senior consultant, internal medicine, at Medanta Hospital.
People with conditions that require regular followup investigation are bearing the brunt of this delay. Dr Shuchin Bajaj, founder-director of Ujala Cygnus Group of Hospitals, said, “Diabetes patients in particular have been severely affected. Many of the patients who are coming back after the third wave are showing signs of uncontrolled diabetes and high sugar levels and have developed eye and kidney complications. A few have also developed diabetic foot.”
Dr Sanjay Gupta, senior consultant, internal medicines, at Paras Hospitals Gurgaon, said, “In case of cancer patients who did not go for their regular chemotherapy, the cancers have spread during the pandemic. Other patients with cellulitis, diabetic foot and cardiac diseases like coronary artery disease just stopped the two-three monthly visits to their doctors. Some patients who were supposed to have elective surgeries postponed it, and the disease got worse.”