Allied hospitals start receiving child patients with diarrhoea

Rawalpindi

The three teaching hospitals in town have started receiving child patients with diarrhoea after change in weather however, the main burden of child patients at the paediatrics departments at the allied hospitals is still of acute respiratory tract infections including pneumonia.

Data collected by ‘The News’ on Saturday has revealed that the allied hospitals in town are still receiving heavy burden of child patients with seasonal ailments. Holy Family Hospital, Benazir Bhutto Hospital and District Headquarters Hospital are receiving 1,000 to 1,200 child patients per day on average of which nearly two per cent are being presented with measles.

The HFH and BBH are operating paediatrics departments while at the DHQ Hospital, only paediatrics outpatient department is being operated. The allied hospitals in town are receiving significant number of pneumonia cases among infants and children while on the other hand, the infections including E-coli diarrhoea and rotavirus diarrhoea are also registering upward trend.

We are still receiving a good number of child patients with complaints of pneumonia, said Head of Paediatrics Department at Rawalpindi Medical College Professor Dr. Rai Asghar while talking to ‘The News’ on Saturday.

He added that with the rise in temperature, the incidence of diarrhoea among infants and children is also showing upward trend. The incidence of viral and bacterial diarrhoea and cholera is normally reported after mid of April every year but this time, the number of patients of the infections is on the rise during February.

Dr. Rai said it is right time to make general public aware of various aspects of diarrhoea including preventive measures to avoid it.

To avoid diarrhoea, boiled water should be used while preparing milk for infants. Mothers should wash hands with soup before preparing milk, he said.

Drinking water must be brought to ‘rolling boil’ for 5-10 minutes before use otherwise it might not be safe for a child to consume. Also hands of children eating solid food must be washed before and after every meal, he said.

It is important that in Pakistan, nearly 250,000 children under the age of five die each year due to diarrhoea, mainly caused by the use of untreated water and unhygienic food. The water-borne illnesses account for nearly 60 per cent of child deaths in Pakistan with approximate 630 children dying daily from diarrhoea.

Dr. Rai said the healthcare facilities are receiving child patients with rotavirus diarrhoea and E-Coli diarrhoea and both these types are self-limiting. It is a must to educate mothers that soon after every episode of diarrhoea, a child should be given ORS (Oral Rehydration Salt), he said.

It is important that in diarrhoea, a child patient dies of dehydration and not of diarrhoea, said Dr. Rai. He added the ORS that is said to be the biggest invention of the twentieth century certainly put a patient out of danger.

However, as soon as a patient’s stool gets consistent, ORS should immediately be stopped, he said. He added a greater percentage of Sodium in ORS might harm a healthy child.