Treatment not related to Covid-19, Antibody Tests and Mental Wellbeing

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 Tuesday, April 21, 2020 - 10:02
Treatment not related to Covid-19, Antibody Tests and Mental Wellbeing

DR KRISHNA RAWAL, Medical Director (acting) talks about:

MEDICAL TREATMENT NOT RELATED TO COVID-19

We have absolutely not forgotten that medical issues need to be managed and follow-ups and treatments are of course ongoing, albeit perhaps by telephone/video call.

Urgent and emergency treatments, such as the 2 week wait cancer referrals are still being managed.

But my medical teams are now looking closely at what additional services we can restart.

This will be based on many different criteria including how long someone has been waiting to be seen, what the medical issue is, what the procedure may be, the risk of waiting versus the risk of being exposed to COVID, the risk of perhaps an anaesthetic on your own defences, the risk of recovering from a procedure and having COVID-19 as well.

Nothing is firm as yet but we are looking at it.

We are looking at all those measures and changes in practice that have been such a success that we would like to keep them in place, such as the 111 line.

Lifestyle, exercise – help and support for those who need it and request it.

ANTIBODY TESTS

Antibody tests – still very hit and miss. It would be amazing to test all of Gibraltar and tell how many are immune. But the immunity itself seems not guaranteed, hence why we are hearing reports of second waves of infection.

Also the immunity that is to be tested is antibody immunity only and does not take in to account the immune response by the cells in the body as well.

Consider the common cold – caused by a number of viruses including a coronavirus. Every year we get colds.

MORE IN PANORAMA PRINT EDITION.

21-04-2020 PANORAMAdailyGIBRALTAR