HYDERABAD: With 2,86,326 new cases of Covid-19 reported from March 15 in Telangana, a fear now is that children will fall prey to the pandemic and they might be faced with multisystem inflammatory syndrome in the coming weeks.
The worst-case scenario is of a five per cent share for children in the arrivals in hospitals for admission and treatment in the peak-term possibility of 1 lakh cases.
With more than two lakh Covid cases currently under treatment in the state, it will require gearing up for the paediatric challenge if more children are affected and required hospitalization.
With the eruption of more Covid-19 cases in rural areas, the central ministry of health and family welfare have prepared models of a ‘worst case scenario’ and asked pediatricians across the country to gear up for the challenge in the coming months.
They are expecting MISC (multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children) cases from this month in large numbers and want the healthcare set-up to be ready to face this challenge. Paediatric care requires specialists for intensive unit care and the existing facilities must be ramped up for the same.
An expert group under the chairmanship of Dr A.K. Deorari has gone through national and international data indicating that some two to three per cent children will require hospitalization in the second wave. In the worst case scenario, it can increase to five per cent.
For this reason, hospitals must improve capacity in their treatment to meet the demand as it arises from this month.
With a large number of families suffering from Covid-19 in the second wave, children are likely to show symptoms three weeks later.
The symptoms to watch out for are continuous fever, vomiting, diarrhoea, pain in the stomach, rashes in the skin, heavy breathing, redness or swelling of lips and tongue, redness or swelling of hands and feet, headache and dizziness.
With more people from rural areas falling prey to the Covid-spread in the second wave, the fear is that only some 40 per cent of the affected will go to the private sector facilities and as high as 60 per cent will opt for treatment at government hospitals.
For this reason the district hospitals must have at least 10 per cent beds reserved for sick children. They must also have paediatricians and other specialists at hand.
Dr Faisal Nadhi, paediatrician at Rainbow Hospitals, explained: "There are set protocols in place to treat MIS-C. We have treated children in the first wave too. Awareness about these symptoms helps parents come to hospitals early. The first wave has created this awareness and in the second wave too, we are hoping for the same. It can be easily treated if they come in early."
In the first wave, MISC was noted in children from September 2020 onwards. In the second wave, experts say June and July will see these cases.
Dr Ravi Kumar, professor and paediatrician at Niloufer Hospital, said: "Healthy children will not require hospitalization and they recover with medicines. The worry is for children who are suffering from co-morbid conditions like problems of kidney stones, congenital heart disease, cerebral palsy, tuberculosis and obesity.
“If there is an unrecognized ailment, it can get aggravated during these times. These can be complications. For healthy children, these problems are not noted. We have seen less than 1 per cent of cases in the first wave."
Paediatricians said challenges were noted in asymptomatic cases where both parents were infected with Covid19 but were not aware of it. It is only when the child is brought to hospital with MISC that they know that they have suffered from Covid19. These asymptomatic cases pose a problem as the child is not brought in early and it would require aggressive treatment for cure. Experts say awareness and alertness will help.
