Filenews 30 September 2021 - by Panagiota Charalambous
The clinic for long Covid patients under Dr. Andreas Tofaridis, a specialist pathologist – virus specialist, has been put into operation at Nicosia General Hospital, while the goal of the CySEC is to operate a similar clinic in the state hospitals of the other provinces in the near future. The capital's infirmary, which operates every Tuesday and Thursday, serves patients who have been hospitalized and although they have been discharged from the hospital, they are still facing some complications due to the coronavirus. It is estimated that long Covid patients are about 30% of patients who have contracted Covid-19, a percentage that translates into about 1,000 patients nationwide.
In a briefing of the "F", the Spokesman of the CySEC, Charalambos Charilaou, and the Executive General Manager of the Nicosia Directorate, Kyriakos Georgiou, explained that long Covid patients usually face complications in the respiratory, circulatory and musculoskeletal systems.
Long Covid clinics will be staffed by specialist pathologists who will conduct clinical examination of patients and then after completing a structured questionnaire based on scientific criteria, an evaluation and recording of the patient's needs will be carried out, in order for him to be referred to the specialty he needs.
As explained by Messrs. Charilaou and Georgiou, a patient who is discharged from the hospital finishes the part of his hospitalization, but does not complete his treatment. Many of the long Covid patients return home with oxygen concentrators or other respiratory devices they use for one, two, three or more months. Many patients are damaged, either temporarily or permanently, in the lungs. Therefore, once a patient is discharged, he/she will receive a referral for the specific clinic, while long Covid patients will be able to be referred to the specific clinic by their personal doctor.
Apart from the specialist pathologists – virulence specialists, the clinics for long Covid patients will offer specialization, since there will be the possibility of referring these patients to a range of specialties, such as pulmonologists, cardiologists, rheumatologists and neurologists.
It is worth noting that according to the data and numbers, the Delta strain has left much more damage to patients than previous strains of the virus, while it has also affected much younger patient ages. It should be emphasized that cases that have been intubated usually have the most symptoms that need to be evaluated and treated.
