Dr Sameer Arbat from KRIMS Hospital along with his team of doctors

A 92-year-old critically ill woman from Nagpur emerged victorious after fighting a 16-day long battle against COVID-19 at KRIMS Hospital. The woman had complained of fever and body ache for seven days and had tested positive for the virus after an RT-PCR test. S

he was admitted at KRIMS Hospital after getting diagnosed with hypoxia and drowsiness. She was treated for COVID-19 along with Acute Renal Failure. The patient was critically affected with COVID-19 with severe pneumonia and was requiring 100% oxygen pressure on Venti- BiPAP. The patient was treated with IV antibiotics, antivirals, multivitamins, anti-platelets and other supportive care.

Till now there have been reports of patients aged 106, 100 and 95 age who have defeated COVID-19, although most of them were ‘mild category’ with only oxygen requirement.

Dr Sameer Arbat who was leading the COVID team of pulmonologists including Dr Parimal Deshpande, Dr Swapnil Bakamwar and staff, successfully treated the nonagenarian. Arbat, Interventional Pulmonologist at KRIMS Hospitals, said that it was a team effort of all the doctors and nursing staff as the old lady was extremely fragile and required a thorough clinical and nursing care. He added, “Advanced age and co-morbidities are indicators of bad prognosis in COVID-19. Our patient required 100% oxygen and we had to use the best combination of all evidence-based medicines for COVID-19. We are very happy that the patient has recovered from a very critical stage and is now being sent home on 1-2L/m oxygen.”

The woman’s daughter said, “We are thankful to the team of KRIMS Hospitals and Dr Sameer Arbat for their efforts to save my mother’s life and letting her come back home safely.”

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The recovery of a senior citizen from a critical stage of disease sends a ray of hope to thousands of people who fear the worst outcome when they are tested positive for COVID-19. Until now there is no definite cure for COVID-19 and few anti-viral drugs have been approved by WHO for treatment of this novel disease. Timely treatment and effective clinical care can help in good outcome for critically ill patients. Dr Sameer Arbat is the pioneer of Interventional Pulmonology in Central India and has been aggressively involved in creating awareness about COVID-19 since February 2020.

He has also been credited with three innovations for COVID-19 – the Bronchoscopy Safety Box, Doctor Safety Assistant and COVI-SAT van. All three innovations garnered international recognition and acclaim in Europe and USA.

Points to better chances of recovery from COVID-19

• Don’t ignore mildest of symptoms

• Early identification of symptoms like fever, fall in oxygen, breathing difficulty

• Timely hospitalisation

• Initiation of oxygen therapy

• Judicious use of antivirals and antibiotics

• Adequate hygiene and nursing care

Who requires hospitalisation ?

• Fall in Sp02 below 94%

• Persistent Fever

• Mental confusion or irritability

• Seizures

• Bluish discolouration of face, lips