Paediatrician fears next wave, calls for separate CCC for children
Source: Chronicle News Service / Sonia Sorensangbam
Imphal, May 27 2021:
Expressing concern over possible third wave of Covid-19 and its devastating impact on children, Indian Medical Association (IMA), Manipur State Branch former president and paediatrician Dr Shyamkumar Laishram has stressed the need for setting up a separate Covid Care Centre (CCC) for management of Covid-19 cases among children and emulate preparations being taken up by different states to strengthen related infrastructure.
During a talk with The People's Chronicle, Dr Shyamkumar noted that states like Delhi, Telanga-na and Karnataka have taken up initiatives to improve healthcare infrastructure for children ahead of the possible third wave of the pandemic following prediction made by experts.
The states are not only setting up special CCCs for children but also engaging trained doctors and nurses and procuring paediatric ventilators among other essential medical equipment.
Expressing his view on the predictions made by experts, Dr Shyamkumar said that case prevalence rate and infection progression rate among children is higher in the second wave than in the first.
Based on the mutations experienced in the virus and changing trend of the pandemic, it is highly possible that the third wave will hit hard the children, which is why state governments are ramping up their healthcare infrastructure and manpower to deal with the impending crisis.
Among the north-eastern states, Manipur is among the top states experiencing aggressive progression of the pandemic and as such, there is a strong and immediate need to augment infrastructure and equipment.
A separate CCC for children would prove more effective in handling Covid cases among children, he said.
In the light of the predictions, paediatricians in the state are carrying out a survey to assess number of paediatric ICUs, Special Care Nursery Units (SCNUs) and Neonatal ICUs.
As per latest report, JNIMS has five each of PICUs, NICUs & SCNUs; RIMS has five PICUs, 10 NICUs & 5 SCNUs; Mother's Care Children Hospital has 13 PICUs, & 21 each of NICUs and SCNUs; Shija Hospital has six PICUs & five NICUs; Imphal Hospital has five NICUs, while District Hospital Thoubal has a few SCNUs but no PICUs.
Raj Medicity also has seven NICUs but it combines its PICUs with ICUs for adults.
Mother's Care Children Hospital has four emergency wards for children but no other hospitals have emergency services for children, he said.
Maintaining that number of children infected by the virus will increase significantly in the third wave, Dr Shyamkumar said that there will be huge requirement of PICUs and NICUs in the third wave of the pandemic.
Regarding the special CCCs for children, he said that there will be no dearth of manpower as there are several senior residents and PG students for paediatric section.
RIMS & JNIMS among government hospitals, and Mother's Care Children Hospital and Shija Hospitals among private hospitals can be utilised for providing treatment to child patients requiring PICUs and NICUs.
However, there is an immediate need to strengthen the existing infrastructure to meet any eventuality, he said, while drawing attention of the government in this regard.