Maharashtra to rope in 6,000 paediatricians to combat 3rd Covid-19 wave

With the third wave of Covid19 anticipated to hit in the next six to seven months the statersquos ninemember paediatric Covid19 task force will be reaching out to 6000 paediatricians in the state over 15 days to prepare them for the onslaught The uphill task is to make the system ready to deal with paediatric cases A task force member said that creating a nursing team and intensivists to handle patients in ICU will be a challengeHealthcare workers screen children for symptoms at LTTAccordingly starting next week paediatricians will be trained in intensive care Presently only around two to three per cent of paediatricians are said to be trained intensivists For nursing care the task force plans to take local paediatriciansrsquo helpldquoThere are very few ICU doctors In Mumbai itself we have some 20 trained paediatric intensivists There are 12001500 paediatricians in Mumbai We have to train those inclined to look after ICU patients and oversee them Our training modules will form the backbone of the programmerdquo said a member of the task force headed by Dr Suhas PrabhuAlso Read Time to revive the institution called family doctorsModules are being made to treat mild moderate and severe Covid19 in children ldquoWe have submitted our recommendations guidelines to the state government We will submit training modules by this weekend The modules will tell primary health care doctors peripheral hospital doctors how to suspect when to suspect and the treatment to be given in a simplified mannerrdquo the member saidThe task forcersquos plans also incorporate Anganwadi workers ldquoFor them we have simplified the program In rural Maharashtra they will play a major role in Covid19 management The program has algorithms charts that can be put in clinicsrdquo said the memberTackling rampant medicationAmid worries over the rampant use of steroids antibiotics and other medications in the treatment of adults the task force has laid out a clear treatment protocol ldquoThere arenrsquot many drugs It will mainly be paracetamol supported drugs and steroids People are rampantly using remdesivir tocilizumab Our module has clear instructions on when to use themrdquo the member saidExperts suggest Covid19 testing of children only if they have positive kin or symptoms for over three days File picsSo far 11144 children up to nine years and 28869 in the 1019 years age group have been affected by Covid19 and 17 and 33 have died in the respective group Paediatricians prescribe tests for children only if kin have tested positive or if there are symptoms and fever for more than three days According to the Indian Academy of Pediatrics IAP 6070 per cent of infected children are asymptomatic and about one to two per cent of symptomatic ones need ICU treatmentldquoThere was definitely a percentage rise in paediatric cases in the second wave We presume that since adults will have access to vaccines the lower ages will get affected morerdquo said Dr Shashank Joshi member of the state task force on Covid19He said that the timing of the next wave is proportional to two things mdash easing of restrictions and adherence to Covid19 protocolsldquoThe probability and possibility of transmission breaks will be low if we follow Covid19 rules Also if we saturate densely populated areas with vaccines we can delay the next wave The idea is to remove the sting out of the next wave It is presumed by mathematical modules which a virus may not follow that the next wave will come in six months or laterrdquo said Dr Joshi1500Approx no of paediatricians in the city20Approx no of city paediatricians trained in intensive careSixNo of months post which the third wave is expected to arrive