Rawalpindi
Though there is a change in weather conditions and the day-time has started getting a little warmer, the child population in the region is still at greater risk of contracting both the upper and lower respiratory tract infections including cold, flu, cough, sore throat and pneumonia.
Data collected by ‘The News’ on Sunday has revealed that nearly 65 per cent of total child patients visiting allied hospitals in town are with respiratory tract infections while significant number of child patients particularly below five years of age have been reaching allied hospitals with triggered asthma which is more alarming.
The paediatrics departments operating in two of the three allied hospitals including Holy Family Hospital and Benazir Bhutto Hospital are receiving nearly 400 child patients daily with respiratory tract infections on average.
The incidence of respiratory tract infections among children is on the rise because majority of parents have started thinking that the winter season has passed and the spring is about to set in. It is observed that most of the parents are not taking precautionary measures as they were doing in extreme winter to avoid their children from cold, said Head of Paediatrics Department at Rawalpindi Medical College Professor Dr. Rai Muhammad Asghar while talking to ‘The News’.
He said parents should take extra care of their children in the existing weather conditions as the allied hospitals are still receiving 10 to 15 per cent of total patients with lower respiratory tract infections including pneumonia.
The child patients suffering from asthma need special attention because incidence of flu among these patients aggravates asthmatic problem and to avoid complications, like patients should be safeguarded from cold and getting wet.
He believes that the spread of respiratory tract infections along with other infections related to weather conditions can be avoided through simple preventive measures, however, it is need of the time to create awareness among public on how to avoid seasonal ailments.
He said that parents should protect their children from cold by using warm clothing to avoid upper and lower respiratory tract infections while infants should be exclusively breastfed for at least first six months of age to avoid pneumonia. Parents should avoid children from getting wet to avoid pneumonia and children should be kept in clean environment and their rooms should be well ventilated, he said.
He added that the most important thing that parents should do is that their children below five years of age must be administered pneumococal vaccine and haemophilus influenzae type B (HIB) vaccine which is available under Expanded Programme on Immunization. Similarly, administration of two doses of measles vaccine is a must for every child and in case a child has missed any of the said vaccines, parents should take the child immediately to the nearest EPI centre, said Dr. Rai. He said the said vaccines are available at the allied hospitals.
He said that incidence of pneumonia among children should not be taken as lightly because it is one of the top killers of children below five years of age in Pakistan. Pneumonia claims over 70,000 lives in Pakistan every year. More than 70 per cent of deaths caused by pneumonia can be avoided through prevention and in time management of the cases, said Dr. Rai.
Fast breathing and lower chest wall in-drawing are the main symptoms of pneumonia. A patient of severe pneumonia must need admission to the hospital while simple pneumonia patients can be treated at home. A patient of severe pneumonia also suffers from difficulty in breathing with severe respiratory distress along with central cyanosis in which colour of hands and feet particularly gets bluish, said Dr. Rai.
He said that children suffering from either severe or simple pneumonia must be taken to the nearest healthcare facility without wastage of time and must be examined by a qualified physician.