Three govt medical colleges moot special wards for kids

FARIDKOT: Amid projections of a possible third wave of Covid and its impact on children, the three government medical colleges in Punjab have sent proposals to the state government to setup special Covid care facilities to provide treatment to the children suffering from the virus.

To provide treatment to children, dedicated level-2 and level-3 facilities will be setup in government medical colleges (GMCS) at Faridkot, Amritsar and Patiala as part of preparedness plan for third wave of Covid-19. Experts say as the virus has mutated and chances of its further mutation cannot be ruled out, it can affect children in the coming days.

The three government medical colleges have sent proposals to the state government seeking grant of ₹11 crore for preparedness to tackle the third wave.

The Guru Gobind Singh Medical College at Faridkot sent a proposal of Rs 6 crore to scale up the infrastructure including setting up of special covid care section P dedicated to children suffering from virus. Similarly, GMCS at Amritsar and Patiala has sent proposals seeking grant of ₹3 crore and ₹2 crore, respectively.

Dr Raj Bahadur, vice-chancellor of Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, said that Punjab government has decided to make special Covid facilities dedicated to children, who are suffering from coronavirus.

“Three GMCS at Faridkot, Amritsar and Patiala have already sent proposals to setup facilities dedicated to Covid infected children. We have sent request to state government seeking Rs 6 crore to scale up the infrastructure including setup covid facility for children at GGSMCH at Faridkot,” he added.

“We will also procure special ventilators made for children and small size beds along with other equipment made for kids.” “Apart from this we are going to start another 48-bed covid care centre at Faridkot with the help of Mumbai-based Tata Memorial Centre (TMC). We have already identified the location, where this make shift hospital will be setup,” he added.

We have also sent request to state govt seeking ₹6 crore to scale up infra. DR RAJ BAHADUR, BFUHS vice-chancellor