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The door-to-door distribution of special medicine kits with syrups and chewable tablets for children under the ‘Corona Ki Jang Mein Har Jeevan Anmol’ campaign by the Uttar Pradesh government kicked off on Sunday with a view to preventing the third Covid wave in the state.
“Upgrading its armour against the new Delta-plus variant which has the potential to stoke the third wave posing a grave threat to children, the state government has prepared over 50 lakh pamphlets-cum-envelopes in which the medical kits for children will be distributed by surveillance committees in all 75 districts of the state,” Director General (Medical and Health) Dr DS Negi said.
The kits include syrups and chewable tablets of lesser dosage than those meant for adults. There are four kinds of kits — for children between 0-1 years, 1-5 years, 5-12 years and those aged 12-18 years — which will be provided even in the remotest regions of UP.
The kits will be provided to every child showing influenza-like illness (ILI) symptoms such as cold and cough by over 4 lakh members of more than 60,500 surveillance committees in the rural areas.
Dr Negi said that the state government has taken up immediate containment measures, including preventing crowds, conducting widespread testing as well as increasing vaccine coverage on a priority basis in districts closer to the states where the Delta-plus variant of coronavirus has been detected.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has asked the Health department to expedite the process of setting up PICU/NICU beds across the state. “Top priority should be given to the establishment of PICU/NICU beds in all the districts before the end of this month,” he said.
The government has also ensured that there is an availability of necessary equipment, including BiPAP machines, paediatric ICUs and mobile X-ray machines. The focus is on direct communication with the manufacturing companies to ensure prompt supply.
As the work of the first phase of doctors and nursing staff has been completed, with the help of these, other health workers should be trained, the CM said.