State to survey how Covid causes damage to brain

kolkata: Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in collaboration with the SSKM Hospital and Bangur Institute of Neuroscience will conduct survey to find out how Covid causes structural damages in the brain or how the Covid infected patients develop other complications like cognitive disorder, loss of memory, forgetfulness in the long run.

The state-run hospitals like SSKM and the Bangur Institute of Neuroscience during the survey will try to make minute observations how Covid affects the cognitive abilities of patients as these activities are controlled by the brain. The survey will mainly concentrate on the specific region of the brain that allows humans to read, write, concentrate, and keep memory power intact and also help to put up coherent thought processes. The survey may also throw some light on whether the Covid infected patients are losing decision making capabilities long after they have recovered.

State Health experts on a number of occasions pointed out long Covid scenarios in some of the affected patients. It means many Covid patients are developing complications long after their recovery. A team has been constituted with the senior professor doctors from the SSKM and the Bangur Institute of Neuroscience. Senior Prof Dr Atanu Biswas from the Bangur Institute of Neuroscience and Head of the department of Pulmonary Medicine in SSKM Dr Amitava Sengupta are in the team that will carry out an extensive survey.

According to sources, the survey will be done on both the young generations as well as the older generations who were infected with Covid and later recovered. Survey is expected to be carried out on at least 2,500 people belonging to the age bracket 18-75. Cognitive function assessment tests will be carried out of the participants who will take part in the survey. The report of the survey is expected to be published in October this year.

The survey has been initiated after it was found that many of the Covid-infected patients are developing psychological issues even after they recover from ailments. Covid has had an adverse impact on the mental health of people during the first and second wave of Covid.

City-based psychologist Abhishek Hansa said: "Pandemic always has an adverse impact on the mental health of the people. Many people are suffering from mental issues in the post-Covid scenario. We require a community-based survey just to know how the situation in the state is as far as mental health is concerned."