GUWAHATI, June 28: Amid reports of rising COVID-19 cases among children during the second wave, the Assam State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (ASCPCR) has decided to write to all deputy commissioners and joint directors of health in the state to urgently take measures to take care of children infected with the virus.
Reports of deaths of children infected with COVID-19 in Dibrugarh and infections among several children and adolescents below 18 years, especially in districts such as Sonitpur, Nagaon, Dibrugarh and Jorhat during the second wave, have evoked concern across sections even as the health department maintains that it is prepared to tackle any adverse situation.
ASCPCR member, Rupa Hazarika took stock of the situation at Tezpur Medical College and Hospital (TMCH) in Sonitpur district on Sunday where 11 children have been admitted after testing positive for the virus.
According to media reports, more children have been infected with COVID-19 prompting the ASCPCR to take a decision to urge all deputy commissioners and joint directors of health to urgently take measures to take care of such children and be prepared to tackle any adverse situation.
Reportedly, children as young as six months to 14 years are getting infected by COVID-19 virus. Most of these cases have been reported from the “red” districts where COVID-19 cases have not declined over the past couple of months.
Health department sources in Nagaon district have informed that over the past two weeks, as many as 172 cases of children being infected with the virus have been reported from different hospitals in the district.
“Many children are getting infected through lactating mothers. Most of the children are asymptomatic and we are providing medicine and all necessary care to them,” said a health official.
According to the assessment of the state health department, about 28,000 children and adolescents below 18 years of age have been affected, with a maximum of those infected falling between 10 to 18 years category.
The Assam government had earlier this month decided to set up paediatric ICUs in all medical colleges and district hospitals of the state.
“As many as 320 paediatric ICUs will be set up in the medical colleges of the state, including 60 such ICUs in Guwahati Medical College and Hospital,” state health minister Keshab Mahanta informed reporters.
Besides, there would 40 such ICUs each at Silchar Medical College and Hospital and Assam Medical College and Hospital (Dibrugarh) and 30 each in Jorhat Medical College and Hospital, Tezpur Medical College and Hospital, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed Medical College and Hospital (Barpeta), Lakhimpur Medical College and Hospital and Diphu Medical College and Hospital.