Durban - For most of his medical career, KwaZulu-Natal vascular surgeon Dr Vinesh Padayachy has been fighting a silent illness: lymphatic and venous disease.
Now, two years after the Covid-19 pandemic upended the medical world, Padayachy has found himself on a new medical front line – understanding the long-term effect Covid is having on his patients and people with lymphatic and venous diseases.
“The scientific world is continuously making new discoveries on what has become known as long-haul or long-term Covid. People who have lymphatic and venous Diseases such as deep vein thrombosis, lipedema, lymphoedema, spider veins, varicose veins, and venous leg ulcers and who have contracted Covid should especially take precaution,” Padayachy said.
Part of the problem, he said was that many people delayed seeking treatment for lymphatic and venous disease as it was not life threatening.
As South Africa moves into the next phase of living with the pandemic and with all indications pointing towards the government scrapping the State of Disaster on the March 15 deadline, Padayachy says vaccines have been a game-changer in the fighting the pandemic and allowing the country to get back to some sort of normality.
He encouraged the government to follow a science-based approach if the Covid regulations were going to be scrapped.
“I would not say we have control of the virus yet, but the vaccines have given us quite a significant boost in terms of treating the virus. Patients who are vaccinated are certainly less sick when they do contract the virus and are more likely to have less complications and less likely to die from the virus and infection. Going forward, hopefully the virus will become less virulent and, hopefully, it will mutate into normal flu,” he said.
And with life going back to a new normal, Padayachy was also hopeful that people would continue to look after their health.
Padayachy said many patients had missed their appointments because they were afraid of contracting the virus.
“I have seen patients that have last seen their doctors three years ago pre-Covid because they are too afraid to come in. This has adversely affected the patient-doctor relationship, not only from a medical point of view but also from a personal point of view. It’s a bit impersonal now.
“Simply because of the barriers that are in place in terms of face masks, in terms of PPE (Personal protective equipment). The reluctance to remove one’s mask, for obvious safety reasons, you often don’t see patient faces and that in itself is a little bit impersonal.”
However, the pandemic has taught many lessons.
“One of the biggest lessons we have learnt from this pandemic is how fragile we are. In a matter of a few months, the entire world has been turned around.
“It has allowed us to identify what’s important to us… We have realised the importance of family and staying healthy.
“As a doctor, you realise how close you are to death. It’s frightening. We have had colleagues pass away, colleagues we had known and worked with for years and, in a matter of weeks, they have passed away. Covid has forced us to face death but has also made us more aware of patients and what they go through.”
Padayachy operates out of Lenmed Ethekwini Heart Hospital and is a founding member of the SA Lymphatic and Venous Society.
He is often called to lecture and present case studies based on his extensive experience in the field of vascular surgery. What sets him apart from many of his peers is his approach to taking the non-invasive route when dealing with patients who need surgery.
“I prefer endovascular, a lot more where surgeries get done without cutting and having, big operations. A lot more surgeries I do are done using stents and balloons and opening things up that way.”
IOL