Preparing itself for the possible third wave, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) will reserve 50 per cent of paediatric beds available in 29 private hospitals for children affected by the virus. This comes as PMC is already scaling up paediatric capacity at civic hospitals. The civic body has already started a dedicated Covid hospital for paediatric patients at the Rajiv Gandhi hospital in Yerawada. Reservations for beds at the Jumbo hospital in CoEP ground and special beds for pregnant women infected with Covid-19 at the Sonawane hospital is under process. As experts predict rising covid infections in children if a third wave hits, PMC has allocated 1,147 beds for children at the 29 designated hospitals. Out of these, 252 beds are without oxygen, 623 are oxygen-enabled, 177 have ICU facility and 95 have ventilator support. Currently, 250 paediatric experts already serving in the hospitals, including 52 in Bharati Hospital & Research Centre and 36 in Nobel Hospital. “The PMC has decided to reserve 573 beds, which is half of the total available beds for children in the city, for treatment of children with Covid-19. The reserve beds include 65 ICU and 48 ventilators for treatment of critically ill children due to Covid-19,” said the civic health officer. The civic body would increase the number of beds for children if more children get infected with the viral disease, he said. The civic body has already set up a city-level task force of paediatric to decide the strategy for the treatment of Covid-19 in children. The task force has recommended scaling up the health infrastructure for the treatment of children while insisting on encouraging parents to follow the regular vaccine schedule for their child and protect them from infections and diseases. For the civic-run hospitals, the PMC has already recruited paediatricians and experts in child health for the catering to covid infections in children. Apart from this, the PMC has also decided to ensure the availability of sufficient oxygen supply where children are being treated. The civic administration has started procuring necessary medicines and equipment required for treatment of Covid-19 in children at civic hospitals. - Stay updated with the latest Pune news. Follow Express Pune on Twitter here and on Facebook here. You can also join our Express Pune Telegram channel here.
