The lack of Oxygen cylinder, ICU beds and ventilators leaves the parents and paediatricians concerned about the third wave.
Patna: Hospitals in Bihar are not well equipped for treating children infected with COVID-19. Health experts say the private hospitals charge Rs. 14,400 to admit a patient in ICU with a ventilator. Therefore, the state government must ensure that they build child care centres in hospitals to make the treatment cost effective.
Asrarul Haque, a parent from Bihar said, “Since the third wave of coronavirus is predicted in which children will be impacted, in Bihar, they don’t have any facility to cope if there is any extreme condition, the state government should do something to update the infrastructure.”
Health experts and pediatricians in Bihar said that the parents of children between the age group of 2-18 years should ensure that they get vaccinated and are prepared to fight against the infection.
Dr Vivekanand, a pediatrician said, “The hospitals in Bihar are not well equipped to treat the children if the cases surge in the third wave. For child care centres, we need NICU and PICU. NICU includes ventilators, incubators, warmers, suctions machine and ICU beds. And the NICU and PICU are not well equipped in Bihar hospitals.”
He said there are no non-invasive ventilators, we need more child care centres and ICU for children but we lack everything. The State government should be prepared with enough oxygen cylinders as the immune system of children makes them vulnerable. And in case of any suspected cases of covid infection, the parents should isolate the child and adhere to the covid restrictions also considering the recommendations from paediatricians.
Bijay Prakash Rai, a member of the State Health Society said, “We are trying to manage everything and the State Health Society organised a meeting withUNICEF and others to get more update on it. So the health infrastructure will be upgraded soon.”
As the country continues to fight the second wave of Covid, the doctors keeps on reminding the government to be prepared for the extreme conditions.
