Kolkata: Primary screening of young children, door to door visits for early detection and massive campaign to raise awareness among parents The first meeting of the task force set up by the West Bengal government to prevent the spread of adenovirus among children, which took place on Monday, discussed some of the measures.
12,343 children across the state have been admitted to hospitals with acute respiratory infectionse last two and a half months, said a press note issued by the state secretariat on Monday.
According to the note, 19 of these children did not survive, including 13 who had serious co-morbidities. The press note said, “Three due to low birth weight, two due to pre-existing lung disease, three due to congenital heart disease, two due to muscular dystrophy and one due to severe infection.” “
Speaking in the assembly last week, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that a member of her family was also infected with adenovirus. She appealed to the general public to wear masks and said, ‘I love children very much and I feel sad if even a single child passes away.’
“The state government has taken steps to fight the virus. Misinformation is being spread that there is no Sick Delivery Care Unit (Special Newborn Care Unit or SNCU) in the state. In fact, there are 2,486 such units in 138 hospitals. Under the CPI(M) rule, there were no such facilities in the state,” the Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief had said.
According to the press note released on Monday, daily new admissions of children suffering from adenovirus in the state have come down from 800 to 600 now.
The note said that out of a total of 5,000 general pediatric beds in the state, 2,763 and 1,211 out of 1,748 SNCUs were occupied as of March 13.
When asked about the situation, Kolkata-based pediatrician Dr PP Giri told ThePrint that cases of viral pneumonia had become an epidemic in the country in 2018-19.
“Of the children who are being admitted, 90 per cent have respiratory tract infections and most of them have viral pneumonia. The most common organism that we are finding in viral pneumonia tests is adenovirus. This adenoviral pneumonia epidemic was observed in 2018-2019, but we did not come across cases during the two years of Covid. We are now seeing a boom again, but this time the magnitude is bigger than 2018-2019,” he said.
first meeting of the task force
On 11 March, Banerjee – who is also the health minister – set up a task force headed by the chief secretary of the state to contain the spread of the infection. The task force comprises two doctors, Chief Advisor to the Chief Minister, Principal Secretary (Health), Principal Secretary (Women and Child Development), Director of Health Services and Director of Medical Education.
In its first meeting on Monday, the task force discussed several measures to contain the spread of the adenovirus, a member said. “Anganwadi workers will conduct primary screening of young children and sensitize parents about symptoms for early detection. ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activists) workers will intensify door-to-door visits for early detection of infection,” the member told ThePrint on condition of anonymity.
In addition, the task force decided to bring in the Indian Medical Association (IMA) to create public awareness and sensitize doctors associated with them on how to treat children under their treatment.
The task force will also conduct training sessions for private practitioners on how to deal with the infection, the member said earlier.
The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is trying to corner the Banerjee-led TMC government by alleging that the state health department is unprepared to handle the rise in adenovirus cases among children.
Apart from raising it in the Legislative Assembly, BJP leaders also organized a protest march on March 10 to the state health department’s office in Kolkata’s Salt Lake area to draw attention to the issue.
Seeking the intervention of Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, state BJP president Sukanta Majumdar in a statement had said do said on Saturday that a “harsh incompetent and heartless government led by a failed chief minister will never do justice to the healthcare system, especially our children”.
(Editing by Amritansh Arora)