Health: Call to set up clinics for long Covid patients – Gulf Digital News

Health: Call to set up clinics for long Covid patients – Gulf Digital News

BAHRAIN medics have backed calls to set up speciality clinics for patients with long Covid, whose symptoms persist for months after an initial infection.

While one of the country’s private hospitals offers post-infection care, Bahrain lacks fully-fledged Post Covid Care Centres which are becoming increasingly popular in many countries.

Such clinics bring together multi-disciplinary teams from a wide range of specialties to address issues that may arise following Covid-19 recovery.

Long-Covid patients or long-haulers, who suffer from Post Acute Covid Syndrome (PACS), may experience a range of symptoms including brain fog, breathlessness on exertion, fatigue, sleep disturbances, memory impairment, depression, palpitations and body weight issues.

These symptoms may persist for more than two weeks and in most cases for several months.

According to studies, between 10 per cent and 20pc of people infected with Covid-19 become long-haulers.

National Taskforce to Combat Covid-19 monitoring committee head Lieutenant Colonel Dr Manaf Al Qahtani acknowledged the need for such clinics, while responding to concerns on social media.

“I agree with you (people who called for long-Covid clinics in Bahrain), there is a need for clinics for this category,” the BDF hospital microbiologist tweeted.

“It is critical to remember that our understanding of Covid-19 and post-Covid-19 is still limited,” he said.

“Researchers are