Respiratory physiotherapy clinic to open

Dr Roshan Parasram
Dr Roshan Parasram

THE health ministry will be opening a respiratory physiotherapy unit under Dr Michelle Trotman for people who have recovered from covid19.

CMO Dr Roshan Parasram made the announcement earlier this week saying the unit would be opened within the North Central Regional Health Authority (NCRHA).

“The virus has been with us less than a year and new clinical symptoms have evolved worldwide. We initially thought it was flu-like and predominantly lung-related, but it has now been seen to have effect on the blood as well," Parasram said as he introduced the term, “long covid.” This is a term used in relation to the length of time it takes for someone to recover from covid19.

"In TT, we’ve seen that it’s taking three to four months to recover, if they recover their full function at all. Changes occur in the respiratory system that lead to persistent shortness of breath, persistent difficulty in doing simple tasks, walking up the stairs, and for that reason, we’re also seeing persistent fatigue.”

According to Dr Andre Earl, studies abroad have show that the virus can have devastating effects on people of all ages in different ways.

“More than 85 per cent of patients in Wuhan, China developed clots in their legs, while in France, covid19 positive patients were three times more likely to develop thrombo-embolic complications, meaning their blood is three times more likely to clot, and in the UK a doctor said a covid19 patient’s blood is enormously sticky. The CDC said median age changed from 45-years-old to 38-years-old, with 20- to 29-year-olds making up the majority of the demographic.”

Earl, who works with covid19 patients, pleaded with his fellow youth to take the virus seriously. He spoke of the mental toll it took to have to intubate patients and rush them to the intensive-care-unit, and of having to call a mother to tell her that her 38-year-old son was dead.

He urged young people to follow the preventative measures outlined by the ministry to slow the spread of the covid19 virus.

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"Respiratory physiotherapy clinic to open"

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