Home oxygen therapy would be possible for some Covid patients, according to an opinion from the High Authority for Health (HAS) published on Monday.
The latter nevertheless issues a series of prerequisites for this support.
This proposal worries the collective of doctors "On the side of science", which underlines the risks.
And hopes, in an online forum, that it "is not intended to dress without saying it, measures of disaster medicine."
The High Authority indicates that "faced with the resumption of the Covid-19 epidemic and the very strong demand from hospital services", it was seized by the Ministry of Health on the possibility of offering certain patients home oxygen therapy .
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“Hospitalization remains recommended for patients at risk of developing a severe form of Covid-19,” she notes.
Home care would however be "possible for two types of patients", she adds.
This is the case for "patients who have been hospitalized and whose state of health makes it possible to consider returning home with an oxygen supply necessary for their care" and "exceptionally patients whose state of health allows initial care at home ”.
The patient “must be independent, have a healthy home, with the permanent presence of a third party, be located less than 30 minutes from a referral health establishment with an emergency structure or a SMUR (specialized vehicle linked to Samu, Editor's note) of proximity ”, details the HAS.
Fragile people excluded
Other criteria are linked to the therapeutic objective: for a patient leaving hospitalization, continued oxygen weaning with a need for less than 4 liters / minute of oxygen to maintain the oxygen saturation of the blood;
for a non-hospitalized patient, restore this blood saturation to more than 92% at rest.
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Are automatically excluded from this care at home, patients suffering from an unstable chronic pathology (diabetes, renal failure), morbid obesity, pregnant patients ... Ditto for those who combine at least "two criteria minors ”exclusion (over 70 years old, cardiovascular disease, cirrhosis, balanced diabetes, etc.).
Age alone is not enough to exclude a patient from this device, she adds.
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Close monitoring by a multi-professional team (general practitioner, nurse, physiotherapist) in conjunction with a reference hospital team is essential.
The patient's safety must be constantly checked with the help of a relative, a caregiver or even a health professional visiting the home.
Telesurveillance allows, if available, close monitoring of the patient and help for those around him.
In the event of worsening, the patient must be able to be quickly hospitalized by immediately contacting the Samu or the reference hospital unit.