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KOLKATA: The state health department is likely to introduce a column in Covid patients’ hospital discharge certificates, mentioning test was not mandatory while being released, under government guidelines.
The health department and police have been receiving complaints that locals demanded the discharged patients got a Covid-negative report before returning home. Going by the revised ICMR protocol being followed in Bengal, testing was not mandatory before being released from hospitals. It was done only for severely critical patients.
In a meeting in Nabanna on Friday, attended by senior officials of departments coordinating Covid management, it was suggested the discharge certificates mentioned such test reports were not mandatory to clear ambiguity. “There appears to be a communication gap. Initially, tests were conducted before discharge, but not now. It is not possible for all to get tested in private labs. Home isolation is must for all released from hospitals,” an official said.
The official said mild, very mild, pre-symptomatic patients could be discharged after 10 days of onset of symptoms and no fever for three days, with no testing. In moderate cases, patients are released if they have no fever for three days and maintain oxygen saturation above 95% for four days.
