Pediatricians call for campus surveillance, awareness on post-COVID complications
The government’s decision to reopen schools in Telangana from February 1 has once again sparked a debate on the safety of children as the pediatric caseload of COVID is also high. Pediatricians at prominent government and private hospitals opine that schools must definitely be opened, but say it is advisable to wait for a couple more weeks or till the peak shows definite signs of declining.“It is better to reopen schools when the peak starts to pass. We are yet to note a dip in daily cases in Telangana. Kids could contract the infection, fall sick and spread it to others,” said a well-known pediatrician on the condition of anonymity. A few others say the cognitive development of children is also important and that it could be impacted if schools are closed for a prolonged time period. However, one cannot ignore the importance of generating awareness about possible post-COVID complications in children, encouraging COVID surveillance in schools and the need to gather robust data on symptoms and hospitalisations, they suggest. Since the beginning of this year, pediatricians across the State have been witnessing a rush in out-patient consultations as parents whose children contracted the infection did not wish to take a chance and sough immediate medical advice. The specialist doctors say that majority of the cases came to them through out-patient consultations, and only a negligible number required hospitalisation. Most children with COVID were asymptomatic when Delta variant was prevalent in 2021. However, cases of high-grade fever have increased. Besides, children with the infection had vomiting, cold, cough, low appetite and pain in abdomen. “Children with COVID need hospitalisation if they have high grade fever for more than three days, show signs of dehydration, experience difficulty in breathing, have low urine output and refuse to take food or fluids,” says head of Pediatrics department at Niloufer Hospital, T. Usha Rani. She points out only a few children with the infection are admitted at the government hospital, and that they had not come across multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) cases yet in January. MIS-C is a post-COVID complication. Dr Usha Rani says cognitive development needs a stimulating environment, and schools being shut for a long time is not good for that. Thousands of children missing out on mid-day meals could also lead to malnutrition, she avers. Another pediatrician, Karuna Madap, says parents and teachers, have to be made aware about MIS-C and other possible post-COVID complications which help in early identification and treatment. “We need information on clinical presentation of COVID in children — how long did it take for them to recover, how many needed hospital admissions, how many had high-grade fever, had symptoms like vomiting and diarrhea, etc. This helps in diagnosis and avoiding unnecessary investigations and treatment. This knowledge should reach periphery doctors,” says Dr Karuna.