- Monday, February 24, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
A COMMITTEE set up by India’s ministry of home affairs (MHA) has warned that a third wave of the coronavirus pandemic may reach its peak in the month of October and children could be severely affected as adults. It has also stressed on the state of the medical infrastructure that will be required if the wave turns into a serious one.
In its report submitted to the prime minister’s office (PMO), the committee has spoken about the critical necessity of paediatric facilities, including doctors, staff members and equipment like ventilators and ambulances in case a large number of children got infected by the virus. It also said the available infrastructure was “nowhere close” to the requirement, if the need arose.
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India’s Times of India daily reported that the committee was set up under the ministry’s National Institute of Disaster Management. The experts in the body also pointed out the need for prioritising a vacation drive against the virus for children with co-morbidities and those with special needs.
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India’s drug regulators have approved Zydus Cadila’s ZyCov-D vaccine for kids above 12 years of age but the drive is yet to be implemented. Earlier, the country’s health minister Mansukh Mandaviya had said children may begin receiving doses against the virus from next month.
The experts’ study, named ‘Third Wave Preparedness: Children Vulnerability and Recovery’, has recommended a “holistic home care model, immediate increase in paediatric medical capacities and prioritising mental health issues among children”.
The experts have also proposed a model whereby Covid wards could be structured in a way that guardians of infected kids could stay safely with them during the treatment.
Pointing out that children are “not a homogeneous group and the policies cannot be the same for different groups of children”, the panel also wrote about protection programmes for children hailing from rural areas and disadvantaged communities, besides starting awareness campaigns to make them more familiar with protocols, Indian news channel NDTV reported.
While many schools across the country have started reopening, the experts’ study has suggested micro-management at the district level as proposed by the World Health Organisation to ensure kids’ safety at educational institutes.
A second wave of the virus wreaked havoc in India with a large number of people dying because of an alleged shortage of oxygen supply and lack of critical medical infrastructure.
Recently, India’s information and broadcasting minister Anurag Thakur said the Narendra Modi government was fully prepared to tackle a possible third wave and special emphasis was being given to improving paediatric care.
