Hospitals receiving influx of child patients with pneumonia

Rawalpindi : Public sector hospitals in this region of the country including the three teaching hospitals in town and Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences in the federal capital are receiving significant influx of child patients with pneumonia that is one of the top killers of children below five years of age in Pakistan.

The allied hospitals in town including Holy Family Hospital, Benazir Bhutto Hospital and District Headquarters Hospital are receiving 60 to 80 child patients with pneumonia per day on average and the incidence of the infection is continuously on the rise. It is important that pneumonia is much fatal in Pakistan as it claims well over 80000 lives every year.

Of course, pneumonia may put life of an infant at stake and in the existing weather conditions, in extreme cold there is a need to safeguard children from the disease, said Associate Professor of Paediatrics at Rawalpindi Medical University and Incharge Paeds Department at the HFH Dr. Tariq Saeed while talking to ‘The News’ on Saturday.

He said on average, the HFH receives 20 to 25 child patients with pneumonia, lower respiratory tract infection per day of which five to 10 patients are with severe form of the infection requiring indoor treatment. The other two teaching hospitals in town, BBH and DHQ Hospital are also receiving the same number of patients with pneumonia on average, he said.

He, however, added the situation is well under control at the time though it is time to take extra measures to avoid incidence of pneumonia among children.

He like other health experts explained that severe pneumonia has respiratory distress, fast breathing and lower chest in-drawing and may have cyanosis in which colour of hands and feet gets bluish. Refusal to feed or poor feeling is another important feature. Although respiratory syncytial virus is the most common organism causing pneumonia but clinically it is difficult to differentiate from bacterial pneumonia.