Ahmedabad prepares for 3rd covid wave, conducts survey to identify vulnerable children

Ahead of the potential third wave of COVID-19, the Ahmedabad administration has taken up surveillance work and is conducting a pediatric survey to identify the most vulnerable children in order to make timely arrangements for their protection.

Speaking to ANI, Health Officer Sandhya Rathod said, "We have started screening children in the age group of 0-5 years. We have 206 teams of ASHA and Anganwadi workers. They are surveying around 250 houses per day."

"We are maintaining a separate list of children suffering from malnutrition and other severe diseases. In the case of the third wave, we can reverse quarantine the high-risk group. I have five teams in Sanand with two doctors and a female health worker in each team," she said.

Ahmedabad District Development Officer (DDO) Arun Mahesh Babu told ANI that children have been categorised into three age groups and their data has been collected.

"We have categorised children in the age groups of 0-5 years, 5-10 years and 10-15 and have taken their data from the Child and Women Development and Primary Education departments. We will keep children in the red category who will be given priority, less vulnerable in yellow and low vulnerability in the green category," said the official.

"In case a variant affecting children is detected, then first of all children in red category will be prioritised for reverse quarantine followed by children in yellow and green categories," he added.

He further stated paediatric surveys will help in data updation and identifying which children are more vulnerable.

"The health infrastructure will also be improvised based on this survey. Arrangements are being made for pediatric ventilators, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at government hospitals. Currently, we are in talks with 20 pediatric hospitals for such arrangements and 14 pediatric specialists have been identified. Pediatric training is also underway at 16 medical colleges," added the DDO.