Sale of home testing kits, teleconsultation with doctors on the rise in Maharashtra

Mumbai: The spurt in Covid-19 cases has brought along an increase in the number of calls and teleconsultation with doctors as well as an increase in enquiry and sale of home testing kits. On the bright side, doctors in the private sector said hospitalisation or severe Covid is a rarity.

"In the last few weeks, the number of teleconsultations has gone up considerably but none of the patients needed hospitalisation," said pulmonologist Dr Lancelot Pinto from Hinduja Hospital, Mahim. At National Chemist in Parel, the number of enquiries for home testing kits has gone up. "No one had asked for the kit for months, but there has been a steady increase in enquiries and purchases in the last few days,'' said a chemist from the store located opposite KEM Hospital.

Hasmukh Rawal of Mylab Discovery Solutions, which manufactures a self-testing kit, said the demand for self-test kits has increased by 30%-40% in the last fortnight in Maharashtra. The civic Covid daily updates show that 94% of Covid-positive patients (tested using RT-PCR or rapid antigen kits) are asymptomatic. "The most common medicine I have prescribed is paracetamol followed by allergy medicines," said senior consultant Dr Gautam Bhansali from Bombay Hospital. He said very few patients have a cough this time around.

Patients are complaining of severe sore throat though, said Dr Pinto. "Most of the patients I have consulted in the last few weeks didn't get Omicron in January," he added. Mumbai's caseload accounts for 65-70% of the daily cases in Maharashtra. "We are awaiting results of 550 positive samples sent for genomic sequencing and should be able to ascertain if the new Omicron sub-lineages are in circulation here,'' said a state official.