Paediatric Beds In More Hosps Now As 3rd Covid Wave Looms

Mumbai: Several peripheral hospitals that didn’t have designated Covid beds for paediatric patients in the first or second wave have now started creating them in anticipation of the third wave. The civic medical colleges have also started training community physicians in identifying and treating paediatric Covid in the past few weeks even as doctors have said that the fear of more children contracting the virus in the thrid wave is unsubstantiated.

- Sumitra.DebRoy

The count of paediatric beds will touch 1,500 once all facilities are operational, of which 1,300 are coming up in jumbos and 200 at medical colleges and peripheral hospitals. As per BMC plans, the count of paediatric beds in the medical colleges — KEM, Sion, Nair and RN Cooper — will go up to 82 from 34. The paediatric ICU beds for Covid will be increased to 27 from 22 at these colleges, while neonatal ICU beds will be pushed to 30 with an addition of 10 beds. “Paediatric Covid beds will account for almost 10 per cent of the city’s total Covid beds,” said Suresh Kakani, additional municipal commissioner.