Paediatric wards across TN gear up to shield kids from third wave

Paediatric wards across TN gear up to shield kids from third wave

Hospitals In Districts Ramp Up Infra

Ram.Sundaram@timesgroup.com

Chennai:31.05.2021 

Paediatric wards at major Covid-19 care facilities in Tamil Nadu say they are prepared and have enough beds in case more children get infected in the coming months.

In Chennai, the Institute of Child Health (ICH) has 160 Covid beds in two different blocks. Since not many children require hospitalisation, only 15 are admitted and under treatment at present.

Around 100 beds have been handed over to Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH), which witnessed acute bed shortage last week, to treat adults, said a senior ICH doctor.

"If there is a population shift in the virus and we require more children's beds, we have made plans to convert adult beds to paediatric beds. Treatment and management protocols are ready," said Srinivasan, senior paediatrician and state nodal officer for neonatal care.

Jayanthi Vishwanathan, senior consultant - paediatrics, Gleneagles Global Health City hospital, said that they have an isolated cubicle ready but the challenge would be to allow only one parent with a child. Usually they take turns.

Even in other parts of the state such as Trichy, many hospitals have started adding oxygen-supported beds in paediatric wards anticipating a spike.

"Ideally a paediatric ward can accommodate 40-50 patients at major hospitals such as Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government hospital, Trichy and the capacity is going to double in a few days," said Dr K Senthil Kumar, nodal officer, special newborn care unit, Trichy district. Theintegrated child development services in the district were calling up parents of child below five to check on Covid infection.

In Madurai, the district administration has intensified screening by testing everyone in children's homes as 11 at a home in Samayanallur got infected. According to official data, all 37 districts have at least 25 neonatal beds and 100 paediatric beds each."We have already converted most of them as oxygen beds. In addition there are at least six paediatric resuscitation and emergency beds in all districts," said Srinivasan.

Dr Balasubramanian of Kanchi Kamakoti Child Trust Hospital said he was glad the government was finally adding more ICU facilities for children, which might be useful later. But panic is unwarranted because only one per cent of children would require hospitalization, he said.

"Because of lockdown and Covid-related fear, routine cases have dropped in paediatric hospitals. At our hospital, only 65 of the 205 beds are occupied. None of them Covid patients. This is the scenario in most hospitals. So there was no need to panic," he added.

As far as treatment is concerned, Dr Jayanthi Viswanathan said, "Unlike adults, we currently don't witness many children with bad lung involvement...," she added.

Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation says it has placed adequate orders for medicines, masks and disposables for paediatric care.

(With inputs from Sampath Kumar and V Devanathan)