Docs fear those hit by Covid vulnerable to cardiac issues

The Covid infection has not only killed millions globally, doctors fear it's leaving many more sick and vulnerable to chronic cardiac and nervous system disorders.

Consider a 28-year-old Bandra resident who spent 45 days in hospital with Covid last year and was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy or heart failure a few days back. "When he started suffering from excessive breathlessness, we thought of coronary blockages as he weighs 130kg. But we found his lipids were fine," his doctor Jalil Parker from Lilavati Hospital said, adding, "His heart had, however, ballooned up, indicating heart failure." In civic-run KEM Hospital, a 22-year-old man who was brought in as a medical emergency was found to have a large clot in his heart's left ventricle that travelled to his pulmonary (lung) artery. "He was sent for surgery immediately," said a doctor. His medical history showed Covid infection a year back.