ICU experts want physiotherapists integrated in COVID-19 care

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Experts in Uganda have expressed concern that physiotherapists have been left out in the line of care for patients battling COVID-19.

Dr Annet Grace Nakalyango, a physiotherapist based at Mulago National Referral Hospital says that because Uganda has been recording mainly mild cases of COVID-19, there hasn’t been much need for physiotherapists in treatment and recovery of patients.

But she adds now that some require intensive care, they need to be included on the list of frontline workers. She explains that physiotherapists give what she referred to as cardiorespiratory or chest physiotherapy to those that cannot breathe properly by aiding in clearing the airway through a number of breathing exercises that also improve oxygen uptake.

Dr Nakalyango adds that once one is given the right therapy, the time they spend on ventilators and even recovery will be greatly reduced as patients may be trained on posture or body position for better lung functioning depending on the complications that they present with.

Already according to Dr Bruce Kirenga, a lung expert who has been involved in treating critical COVID-19 cases, they have added a form of physiotherapy called proning on their cocktail of care for critical patients. He says for many of his patients, this simple technique that involves someone sleeping on their back under close monitoring has prevented them from progressing into severe disease.

This method Kirenga says is not specific for COVID-19 patients but can be used by patients that require treatment for lung complications although he notes that through trials done elsewhere, physiotherapy has been recommended as a great tool for recovery of COVID-19 patients as it shortens recovery and lessens the complications people get from treatment in the ICU.

However while physiotherapy is being recommended, data by the Mulago school of physiotherapy shows that there were less than a hundred physiotherapists in the whole country by March.

Because of these specialists being in short supply, Nakalyango said she had to help a friend isolated in treatment whom she couldn’t access physically by conducting telephysiotherapy where she gave them instructions via phone call.

******

URN