Antonio Fernández Pro-Ledesma, President of SEMG.
As a result of the recent declarations of the Minister of Health, Carolina Dariasin which he shows his confidence that the study of Carlos III Health Institute (ISCIII) on persistent Covid-19 helps define the symptoms of this disease and how to approach its diagnosis, treatment and sequelae, from the Spanish Society of General and Family Physicians (SEMG) and the group of affected ‘Long Covid Acts‘ are made available again to the Ministry of Healthonce again, in order to work together to improve care for patients affected by long lasting covid.
This has been communicated this week through a letter addressed to the Ministry of Health, in which they ask Darias for a meeting “to solve this health problem, so that it is officially recognized and the sick can be treated as they need and deserve.” Following the instructions of the own World Health Organization (WHO)from the beginning of the pandemic Doctors and patients have been working intensely and closely to shed light on this new health problem that, after two years of the pandemic, leaves more and more affected.
This collaborative work has materialized through four working groups (research, scales, protocols and temporary disability) that have given rise to numerous materials and studies of interest. All of them have been published in the media and scientific journals, and transferred to all interested parties, always including the Ministry of Health as the first recipient, with whose representatives meetings have been held in which SEMG and ‘Long Covid Acts’ They have always been at your disposal. The response has always been polite and correct at the time, but unsuccessful over time, without being able to move forward together at any time.
This joint work has had its maximum expression in the Clinical Guide for Patient Care with long covid / persistent covid, a collaborative project promoted by SEMG and ‘Long Covid Acts’ that currently has the participation and involvement of up to 56 associations and scientific societies, professional associations and other entities involved in the care of this new group of patients, as well as groups and patient organizations. The main objective of the Guide is to serve as a tool to improve the health care provided to those affected and, with it, their health.
Definition of persistent covid circuits and treatments
Its content was already sent, in May 2021, in the first instance to the Minister of Health so that she had proof of its existence, requesting its dissemination and implementation. However, to date no response has been received nor has there been any dissemination from the Ministry. Thus, SEMG y Long Covid Acts again request the Ministry of Health, and the departments that are working on it, that, when defining the circuits and treatments that people with long covid should receive, take into account the multidisciplinary collaborative work contemplated in the Clinical Guide of maximum consensus, as well as the enriching contributions made by the different societies and groups that have participated in its elaboration, with the commitment of its periodic updating.
New SEMG long covid projects
The SEMG recalls that the Guide is currently in the process of being updated and that new scientific societies have been added, both to this work and to others that are going to be launched in order to generate and disseminate new knowledge, which is very necessary for the correct care of patients affected by Covid-19 long lasting. Among these new projects are the Regicovid-AP clinical recordthe development of a comprehensive assessment tool for patients with persistent symptoms, the creation of an App that brings the content of the Guide closer to the health professional, and training professionals with university endorsement on this new disease.
From SEMG and Long Covid Acts reiterate their willingness to collaborate with the Public administrationmeet with their representatives and provide all the materials so that this health problem is officially recognized and the thousands of affected people in our country can be treated as they deserve.
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