Government has asked the Civil Surgeons of all the 24 districts in Jharkhand to ensure setting up of 1000 Intensive Care Units for a possible third wave of Covid-19 following a recommendation from the Empowered Committee for Prevention of Third Wave – a team of experts, doctors and researchers, which brainstorms over the ways to prevent and tackle a third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The expert committee, officials said, has also asked the State to ensure availability of medicines used for treatment of flu in children medical stores across the 24 districts to avert a situation of shortage.
Following the Empowered Committee’s recommendation, Dr. Bhuvnesh Pratap Singh, who heads the ‘Third Wave Covid Control Room’ in the state, addressed letters to the civil surgeons of all the 24 districts in the state directing them to hold meetings with hospital representatives and increase the number of ICU beds in private as well as government hospitals.
As per the recommendation of the committee, 500 ICU beds could be set up in private hospitals and the remaining half in government-run healthcare centres. The state is also setting up child-friendly ICUs with cartoons painted on the walls to prepare for the third wave, which is likely to affect children the most, officials said.
The expert committee has predicted that around 7 lakh of the 1.43 crore population in the age bracket of 0 to 18 years may get affected by Covid-19 in the third wave. While 2.86 lakh of the patients are feared to be symptomatic, about 8610 of them may show severe symptoms and need intensive care, the committee has predicted on the basis of trends across the world and in India.
In accordance with the Empowered Committee’s recommendations, the civil surgeons in all the districts have been asked to also hold meetings with chemists and druggist associations in their districts and ensure surplus availability of medicines that are particularly used for treating fever and viral infections in children.
The list of medicines prepared by the expert committee includes paracetamol drops, vitamin C drops, Amoxycillin drops, ranitidine syrups, cough syrups, Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS) and combinations of injections to be administered to patients who show severe symptoms of Covid-19.
Even though experts have said that 90 per cent of Covid cases among children are likely to be asymptomatic, the rising fear of mutated Delta plus variant and its ability to cause severer lung infection have triggered panic in the state.
However, the state may have more time in hand to make arrangements for a third wave, if at all it hits Jharkhand. As per experts from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a third wave may come after six to eight months, giving all the states in India the time to prepare for its effects.