With viral fever affecting children in the city and leading to hospitalisations in some cases, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has announced a set of guidelines for medical officers. They have been asked to thoroughly examine a child after being brought to the centre by the parents, with symptoms of fever and respiratory difficulties. Besides, the child’s medical history has to be also collected from the parents.
KMC’s Chief Municipal Health Officer (CMHO), Dr Subrata Roychowdhury, said that medical officers, after examination, will advise for either home treatment or hospitalisation, as per the clinical condition of the child. The medical officers also need to strictly follow up with the child, in cases of both treatments at home and hospital. In case of treatment at home, they should explain the signs of danger to the parents. If such signs are found, the child should be rushed to the nearest hospital or health care centre.
Further, nurses primarily need to review the condition of affected children who have attended the health centre. They will inquire about the duration and severity of the child’s fever, history of refusal to drink or feed and falls in urinary output etc. If the nurse feels that any child is too sick, she will promptly take him or her to the medical officer.
Instructions have also been issued for pharmacists to dispense medicines as advised by the medical officer. They need to properly explain to the parents the process of administering the medicines. The laboratory technicians at KMC have been instructed to perform all necessary laboratory investigations on the child, as advised by the medical officer.
Honorary health and Asha workers will visit houses in their given fields and will inquire about sick children. If a sick child is found, the workers will motivate the parents to take them to the nearest health centre or hospital for treatment. They will preferably escort the sick child to the Urban Primary Health Center (UPHC) or the nearest government hospital, as required. Through hand miking, the workers will also be involved in the Information, Education & Communication (IEC) campaign to increase awareness about the disease among the general population.
For the public, the KMC guidelines mentioned that people should be made conscious that sick children must be taken to health centres and hospitals for necessary medical advice.
One should not try to treat a sick child by themselves without taking advice from a registered medical practitioner. Parents should not administer medication to their children through procurement of medicines over-the-counter, the guidelines said.
