It takes a hospital: How a 2-yr-old is getting better in Lucknow’s KGMU

Since his condition is almost normal we are not providing any medicine, not even the protocol preventive one as it is not recommended for children below

12 years of age.

DR D HIMANSHU , King George’s Medical University

LUCKNOW: The two-and-halfyear-old is oblivious to the medical staff who hover around him in the isolation ward at King George’s Medical University (KGMU), periodically checking his body temperature and keeping a watch on him; he is so engrossed in playing with the toys he loves.

His mother sits a few feet away, wearing a mask, observing the child more than the medical staff does. This is the scene at the ward where the boy was shifted on Monday after testing positive for the coronavirus disease, becoming one of the youngest patients of Covid-19 in India.

“Apart from the toys from his home, there is a TV in the room. His condition is stable and this is good for recovery,” said Dr D Himanshu . The doctor is treating patients in the isolation facility at the KGMU.

The 35-year-old mother of the little child was the first person in Lucknow to test positive for the coronavirus disease and admitted in the hospital on March 11. She was cured in the third week of March, but doctors advised her to remain in quarantine for the next 14 days; she has completed just a week in quarantine, and is maintaining distance from her child, too.

The child is fourth in the family to test positive for Covid-19 after his mother and grandparents. The grandparents have been cured and are about to be discharged from the Base Hospital in Lucknow.

On the child’s condition, Dr. Himanshu explained: “Since his condition is almost normal we are not providing any medicine, not even the protocol preventive medicine as it is not recommended for children below 12 years of age.”

The child’s samples will be sent for tests on Wednesday; two consecutive tests have to come in negative for doctors to plan his discharge from hospital.