Highlights:
- Ahmedabad readies itself for potential 3rd COVID-19 wave
- Health Officer Sandhya Rathod said authorities have already begun screening children between 0-4 of age
- Paediatric surveys will help in data updation and identifying which children are more vulnerable
Preparing itself ahead of the potential 3rd wave of COVId-19, the Ahmedabad administration has taken up surveillance work as well as is conducting a pediatric survey to identify the most vulnerable children to make timely arrangements for their protection.
Health Officer, Sandhya Rathod, speaking to ANI, said, “We have started screening children in the age group of 0-5 years. We have 206 teams of ASHA and Anganwadi workers. They are surveying around 250 houses per day.”
She also said, “We are maintaining a separate list of children suffering from malnutrition and other severe diseases.
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“In the case of the third wave, we can reverse quarantine the high-risk group. I have five teams in Sanand with two doctors and a female health worker in each team”.
The District Development Officer (DDO) of Ahmedabad, Arun Mahesh Babu, told ANI that all the children have been categorised into 3 age groups and their data is being proactively collected.
The official said, “We have categorised children in the age groups of 0-5 years, 5-10 years and 10-15 and have taken their data from the Child and Women Development and Primary Education departments.
We will keep children in the red category who will be given priority, less vulnerable in yellow and low vulnerability in the green category.”
He also said, “In case a variant affecting children is detected, then first of all children in red category will be prioritised for reverse quarantine followed by children in yellow and green categories”.
DDO Arun also said that the paediatric surveys will help in data updation as well as identifying which children are more vulnerable.
The DDO said, “The health infrastructure will also be improvised based on this survey. Arrangements are being made for pediatric ventilators, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at government hospitals.
“Currently, we are in talks with 20 pediatric hospitals for such arrangements and 14 pediatric specialists have been identified. Pediatric training is also underway at 16 medical colleges”.
