Time to take extra care of infants, children

Rawalpindi:The healthcare facilities in town including the three teaching hospitals and private clinics have been receiving a significant influx of child patients with gastro, diarrhoea and other monsoon related illnesses while health experts fear the number of child cases would go on further rise in the coming days particularly after rain falls.

Health experts believe that if proper preventive measures are not taken by the parents well in time, the monsoon might cause great rise to certain infections among children and infants. After rainfalls and water inundation due to heavy rains, the trend of infections among children may take the shape of an epidemic in the coming days.

The monsoon causes a great increase in the number of child patients across the country every year with an increase in incidences of viral and bacterial diarrhoea, gastro and cholera. Experts say that parents must take extra care of infants and children for at least another one month or so to safeguard them from mild to moderate and even severe infections that hit the population during monsoon every year.

Experts say that it is time to sensitise the public on the issue and convince them to take extraordinary care in handling children and infants. With the increase in rainfall being expected in the coming days, water reservoirs may get polluted and in case of little carelessness, children and infants would have to face serious complications.

In Pakistan, nearly 250,000 children under the age of five die each year due to diarrhoea, mainly because of the use of untreated and contaminated water and unhygienic food. The water-borne illnesses account for nearly 60 per cent of the child deaths in Pakistan. To avoid diarrhoea, children should be given water for drinking after boiling and as well boiled water after cooling should be used for preparing milk for infants. Experts say that water to be consumed by children and infants must be brought to ‘rolling boil’ for 5-10 minutes otherwise it might not be safe for a child to use.

Experts say that mothers must follow good hygiene in monsoon and must wash hands with soap before preparing milk for infants while children should be made habitual of washing hands with soap before and after eating and after going to the toilet. Fresh milk and food should be given to infants and small children each time and consumption of leftover food should be avoided in monsoon.

Experts say that mothers should be informed that immediately after the incidence of diarrhoea (motion), a child should be given ORS (Oral Rehydration Salt) which certainly puts a patient out of danger. However as soon as a patient’s stool gets consistent, the ORS should immediately be stopped as a greater percentage of Sodium in ORS might harm a healthy child.

In cholera, the watery motion resembles that of rice water and dehydration is much rapid as compared to diarrhoea. Health experts say that such a patient should immediately be taken to the nearest healthcare facility for treatment. Cholera is an acute infectious disease caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholera that lives and multiplies its colonies in the small intestine. Massive watery diarrhoea is the major symptom of the infectious disease that results in dehydration. Such dramatic water loss, if left untreated, causing severe dehydration leads to thickening of blood, circulatory collapse (shock) and death. Studies reveal that a good number of cholera victims die six hours after onset of symptoms if not treated in time.