Family doctors, essentially private practitioners, who may be trained in different streams but understand the human body the same way, would be useful in treating the novel coronavirus infections at primary level, especially in the third wave. The disease is new and medical science is making breakthroughs every day in managing it.

The challenge is to make a treatment protocol that can effectively fight the changing patterns of Covid-19 and its other clinical fallouts. Maharashtra government’s Covid task force has realised the need of roping in the age-old concept of family doctors, which has shown decline over the past few decades, to take the state’s fight forward. Supportive of the initiative, CM Uddhav Thackeray proactively interacted with the state’s doctors, including the state-appointed ones who manage primary healthcare in the rural areas and their urban counterparts, and independent practitioners from across Maharashtra. On Sunday, the Covid Task Force members guided doctors in diagnosis, line of treatment, judicious use of medicine, new complications like mucormycosis, and more importantly, they gave important tips about managing patients in home isolation, because it is increasingly noticed that the patients who are brought to hospitals in critical stages, hardly survive. What was understood from the interaction was that the doctors from all disciplines (Allopathy and Ayush) treating patients in home isolation must know when to shift the patient to the hospital, and for that they must be updated regularly in diagnosis and primary treatment.