Kolkata: KMC may start lung tests to assess Covid impact on COPD patients

KOLKATA: Worried over the impact of Covid-19 patients having other lung-related ailments, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) is planning to introduce lung function tests at its chest clinics across the city. Currently, the KMC health department offers chest X-ray for COPD patients at its ward-wise clinics and supplies inhalers to those who need it.
According to a KMC health department official, the demand for inhalers has increased to a great extent in the past six months amid a pandemic scare.“Going by the health conditions of some patients coming to our clinics in 144 wards and suffering from lung ailments, we have realized that we need to bring such patients under a mandatory lung function test and the facility should be available at select chest clinics across the city,” said a senior civic official.
Some KMC medical officials conceded that they have witnessed a sudden spurt in the demand of inhalers and nebulizers at the ward-wise health clinics in the past four months. “We are taking extra care for those who have lung-related issues along with Covid-19 symptoms. We are doing mandatory chest X-rays for the patients with lung ailment. If we find an abnormal patch, we refer the patient for a mandatory Covid-19 test,” said a KMC health department official.
Similarly, a demand for inhalers has also increased to manifold at the KMC clinics.
Even the demand for vitamin capsules are also rising at the KMC health clinics, according to a KMC physician. However, in several clinics, particularly in north Kolkata, vitamin-C was not available in recent times, said a KMC health department official.