<p>​During this pandemic, many people may still be scared to come to the hospital and seek timely medical care for urgent, pre-existing and chronic health conditions. With the outbreak of COVID-19, other health conditions have not ceased to exist and neither has their impact on people’s health and lifestyle reduced. In such circumstances, why should people be more conscious of their health and avoid delaying timely treatment? To answer similar questions and concerns of the public, the Aga Khan University Hospital conducted a Facebook Live session with the multispecialty expert panel having: </p><div>
</div><div>Dr. Sarah Nadeem – Assistant Professor, Medicine</div><div>Dr. Shahzad Shamim – Associate Professor and Service Line Chief, Mind and Brain</div><div>Dr. Javed Tai – Assistant Professor, Medicine</div><div>Dr. Om Prakash – Assistant Professor and Service Line Chief, GI and Surgery</div><div>Dr. Sadaf Khan – Associate Professor and Associate Dean, Surgery</div><div>Dr. Masood Umer – Associate Professor and Section Head, Surgery</div><div>Naureen Lalani – Nurse Manager, Children’s Hospital</div><div>
</div><div>The moderator, Dr. Sarah Nadeem started the session by emphasizing the fact that patients must not delay their treatment. AKUH is OPEN and its staff is following additional safety precautions based on strict infection control guidelines to keep all patients coming to AKUH safe. </div><div>
</div><div>For questions received for GI and Surgery, Dr. Om Prakash responded that all SOPs are being followed at all times and in all clinics and surgeries. Whether the procedure is a simple or a complex one, all healthcare professionals are following strict infection control protocols pre- and post-surgery while wearing complete PPE. A separate Operating Room and spaces have been designated for all COVID-19 positive patients coming in for surgeries / procedures, such that no uninfected patient gets exposed at any time during their treatment journey. For this, all patients coming to the hospital for surgery / procedure are getting tested for COVID-19. </div><div>
</div><div>Dr. Masood Umer continued by shedding light on cases involving Orthopeadic pain / injuries and other emergency care related to bones and joints. The outbreak has not slowed down the services provided by the Orthopeadic Clinics, be it for arthritis pain, fracture or an emergency surgery. Dr. Masood enlightened the audience by speaking of “Mutual Protection Surgeries”, where additional infection control and safety measures are being strictly enforced for the end-to-end safety and minimizing the exposure of both, the patient and the hospital staff.  Dr. Umer also educated the audience on the importance of managing the negative and positive air pressures, as per the International standards and protocols of Infection Control. </div><div>
</div><div>Our audience was also interested in learning more about the importance of timely care of medical conditions related to Neuromedicine and Neurosurgery.. Amongst several questions that poured in, Dr. Shahzad Shamim responded to a patient who feared having Vertigo and wanted an advice for how to approach timely treatment. Dr. Shahzad advised that a consultation with a specialist is necessary and that the patient should not be scared to come to the hospital for an in-person consult. He strictly and specifically advised patients having tumors not to delay their routine care and treatment regimen, as a slight delay in Cancer treatment may have a huge impact on the treatment and recovery cycle. </div><div>
</div><div>A child’s healthcare is as important as that of adult and requires close monitoring of a parent / guardian as a child may not communicate verbally about the pain he / she feels. Hence, most mothers were concerned about coming to the hospital for routine care and vaccination services for their children. Ms. Naureen Lalani advised all mothers and mothers-to-be that delaying vaccines of a child out of fear of visiting the hospital is equivalent to exposing one’s child to other more harmful diseases. Ms. Lalani kept stressing that kids cannot speak and they recover faster if their medical problems are diagnosed on time. </div><div>
</div><div>Dr. Sadaf Khan continued to emphasize and acknowledge the efforts of the staff of AKUH to excessively minimizing the exposure and making the Hospital a safe place for patients. She also assured that the COVID-19 section has completely been separated from the main hospital. 
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</div><div>Dr. Sarah Nadeem, an Endocrinologist by specialty, advised all patients including those with Diabetes not to self-medicate or self-manage the dose of prescribed medications. Those patients who are observing changes in their health due to the prescribed dose were asked to immediately consult their doctors and not to increase / decrease the dose without the doctor’s consent. </div><div>
</div><div>Dr. Javed Tai advised all patients with chronic or pre-existing heart and vascular conditions to take every second as crucial. A heart attack can be fatal if its pre-existing signs and symptoms are not addressed in a timely fashion. Almost 30% of people may die of a heart attack if avoid going to the hospital in time. </div><div>To provide improved accessibility to your health needs, AKUH is providing home vaccination, home pharmacy and home health services, while ensuring that all infection control and safety precautions are taken.</div><div>
</div><div>COVID-19 will impact our lives for several months or even years. The Hospital has adapted its healthcare provision methods and updated its Infection Control guidelines as per international standards and protocols. Our healthcare professionals are at your service and will continue to serve to all your healthcare needs. Do NOT delay treatment. Complete session is available on: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/AKUHPakistan/videos/653479561906748/">https://www.facebook.com/AKUHPakistan/videos/653479561906748/</a>  
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