Paediatric wing for COVID care opens in Madurai

The special wing has ICUs, special rooms and general wards as well as adequate medical supplies and equipment exclusively for treating children with COVID infections or post COVID complications.

The Paediatric wing is manned by a dedicated team comprising senior paediatricians, paediatric intensivists, paediatric surgeons and specialists from other super specialty departments. The special wing also employs paediatric-trained nursing staff.

Adhering to the protocols issued by the Centre, the paediatric COVID wing would provide treatment to save the lives of children and reduce the severity of illnesses such as rashes, prolonged fever, severe pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, septic shock (a condition in which the blood pressure fails and the organs of the body fail to receive sufficient oxygen), multi organ dysfunction and MIS-C, a condition in which some organs and tissues become severely inflamed.

Commenting on the paediatric care wing, Dr S Gurushankar, chairman, MMHRC, said due to the new variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 infecting children and young population increasingly during the second wave of the pandemic the hospital has opened the special ward. However, Gurushankar said that there’s no need for panic as only a small percentage of children are likely to develop severe COVID symptoms. However, the low level of immunity among Indian children is a cause of concern, he added.