How can India's health care system be prepared to protect children from the third wave of Covid-19?

 

ANMS, school in Barrackpore

According to the School in Barrackpore, We must unite underneath a strict and proper policy to ensure our children by improving health and education during the covid-19 pandemic third wave and developing resilient systems and services.

Hospitals and the healthcare sector as a whole struggled in 2020 to pivot and handle the devastating Covid-19 pandemic. Millions of people died as a result of our actions. Fortunately for us, our children, who make up about 40% of India's population, were spared the worst of the pandemic.

Healthy children are mostly asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic, according to sero-surveillance studies, whereas children with co-morbid disorders have more severe symptoms and poor health outcomes. And, while children now account for about 3% to 4% of hospital admissions in India due to Covid-19, India cannot afford to neglect it when it comes to saving its children, especially in light of the United States' rising numbers of kids in hospitals.

India must resolve health structural issues with adequate healthcare skills, equipment, and techniques to save its children from a new third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Pediatric care should be improved.

Before the pandemic, 'normal' was never good enough for millions of Indian youngsters. The bulk of healthcare needs are met by primary health centers (PHCs) and community health centers (CHCs) in rural and marginalized India. Still, pediatricians are in short supply—82 percent and 63 percent of vacant jobs in these rural and marginalized areas, respectively. As a result, we must issue a nationwide call for pediatricians to join the government's healthcare system.

Because severe Covid-19 in young kids might take different aspects than adults, pediatrics ICUs are required. Unlike adults, medical tools and equipment for children must be available in various sizes and monitoring methods. Our findings on the spot reveal that a pediatric kit is desperately needed in PHCs and district-level hospitals.

Because they are separated from their parents and in a new environment, hospitalized children require a suitable atmosphere.

Caretakers, doctors, and healthcare staff must establish specific child-protective Covid proper actions (CAB) criteria, such as effective communication and identifying nonverbal signals while looking after children. 

ANMS, school in Barrackpore

Overall, hospitals should include brightly colored walls, toys, and activities to assist children in remaining cheerful. Public health advisers and consultants at PHCs and CHCSs should also be used to help children and parents deal with doubts and distress.

For retrieving children, healthcare workers must train frontline workers like ASHA and parents to detect post-recovery symptoms like psychological stress, anxiety, or multisystem inflammatory disease, a severe condition in which some parts of the body become heavily inflamed, such as the heart, lungs, blood vessels, kidneys, digestive system, brain, skin, or eyes.

This will allow people to report immediately to medical professionals in a timely way, allowing them to get necessary medical assistance.

Finally, governments should establish child task committees to establish recommendations for pediatrics clinical management, train physicians, and assess the current infrastructure for treating children. This workgroup can also integrate Covid-19 treatment into routine healthcare programs to ensure that patients with serious illnesses are not put at risk.

More is required.

Vaccinations for vulnerable people, such as pregnant women and nursing mothers, and parents of infants and toddlers, must be prioritized while child immunization trials continue. Due to their lack of accessibility, women and children have difficulty accessing treatment. As a result, programs like Doctor on Wheels should be investigated. Vehicles carrying vital medical equipment, vaccinations, and medicines can drive to rural and underserved areas to vaccinate and give medical help.

Free medical teleconsultations can help with homecare, testing, and referrals to neighboring hospitals for critical patients, as well as the crucial element of psychological counseling.

Malnutrition affects more than a third of Indian children, leading to an increased risk of severe Covid-19 and even deaths. As a result, we must increase nutrition schemes such as mid-day meals with additional nutrition and initiatives to safeguard, promote, and support optimum nursing, age-appropriate complementary food products, and optimal breastfeeding.

Mobilization of the family and community

Campaigns that raise awareness among the public are beneficial. We need to organize existing PRI, Common Service Centers (CSCs), angan wadis, and women community organizers to build relationships with people and prepare them to explain the influence of Covid-19 Local news channels, satellite communications, and social media platforms use awareness campaigns to raise public awareness of CAB, vaccination, and child-appropriate practice guidelines.

For successful community outreach, Bhutan's government involved religious leaders in the covid-19 campaign.

Preventive care is the first step in providing psychosocial support.

Children have been exposed to uncertainty and anxiety because there has been no filtration of Covid-19-related material since the outbreak. Families should filter threatening, unpleasant material, correct any inaccuracies or rumors they hear, and communicate facts to children in a way that they understand through outreach initiatives. Furthermore, children require mental health care outside the formal system, like villages and communities.

Finally, the government and civil society organizations must collect data and collaborate with scientific organizations to determine the total impact of the Covid-19 outbreak and related lockdown on children in India.

We must unite underneath a valuable and concrete framework to protect our kids, including improvements in health and education in schools in Barrackpore, developing more robust systems and services that can connect all children, and ensuring that investment continues in their health and future education.