“60 percent have corona in Nepal”

Corona infection has been increasing rapidly. In this context, Baikuntha Prashad Bhandari, editor of Nepalkhoj.com talked with Dr Subash Ghimire, founder of Samaj Dental hospital. Extracts:

The number of cases is rising. It is said that Coronavirus is transferred from droplets and breathe. The hospital has been providing dental service to the patients. How has been your experience with the treatment process?

Precaution is definitely needed. But fear is not the solution. Most of the corona patients in Nepal don’t show any symptoms. Mostly, people with travel history are found to be infected. Following the health guidelines, we can remain safe. As there is no symptoms in most of Nepal’s patients, who knows, we might also be suffering from Coronavirus? Or we might have already recovered. Droplet is the usual method of transmission.

If the government increases the number of tests, how do you see the situation?

Of course,  increasing the test will show more cases for corona. 60 percent of people in Nepal already have the infection.  The cases seem less because most patients don’t have symptoms.

 

There is fear among people that having a fever means that the person has corona. how do you see the fear?

 

This is wrong.  Only having a fever does not mean that the person has corona. Having a fever means you might have other body issues. Even the machine used for the PCR test is part of the experimentation of student doctors. So, the result is only 65 percent accurate. Coronavirus is actually a flu which can be prevented following simple precautions.

How risky people feel about taking dental service in this situation?

Coronavirus spreads through droplets, saliva, and mucus. So, doctors should be careful about this. We have been following the guidelines. So, there won’t be any problem.

Are we utilizing the mask properly? Also, how effective are sanitizers?

There are various kinds of sanitizers in the market. Some sanitizers contain more than 70 percent alcohol. Usually, sanitizers are anti-bacterial, not anti-viral. So, anti-bacterial sanitizers are not effective for coronavirus. It is better to use soap and water.

People are not understanding the use of masks. If you are at home, and there are no patients around, wearing a mask is not necessary. However, on the road, not using a mask may be risky. N95 masks control 10 o 15 percent oxygen, which means, it reduced the level of oxygen. This may also damage the lungs.

Then why has the government implemented strict rules regarding using a mask?

Maybe the government is doing this because they have a weak testing mechanism. It is good to use mask only when you are among the crowd and when you closely talk with someone.

Having said that corona transfers from mouth to mouth contact as well,  they did not consult experts like you and did not include you?

They should have kept us in the team

In Nepal, we have found that other deceased with other casualties have also been registered as COVID 19 patients?

Indeed. But we can’t be sure about that. But these people went to the doctor due to other health complications. They had to do the corona test. And after their immediate death, they got positive results. Maybe because the immunity power of Nepali is strong as most patients don’t have symptoms.  Community transmission is already there. But if we follow proper precautions, we will remain safe from infection.