Paediatric ICUs in Kolkata start taking in non-ARI cases – ET HealthWorld

Kolkata: With the drop in ARI (acute respiratory infection) cases, hospitals in the city have started accommodating non-ARI cases in their respective paediatric intensive care units (PICU).

While the majority of PICU beds still continue to be occupied by ARI-affected children, mostly adenovirus cases, doctors said that even a week to 10 days ago, they were unable to take in kids, who required intensive treatment for other ailments, in their PICUs.

Despite the slowdown in infection rate, experts said it would take about another two weeks for the PICUs to get a significant respite from children affected with ARI. Even as the footfall in OPD by parents with children suffering from fever and other symptoms of the infection has dipped, some of the severely infected kids will continue to occupy the PICU beds for a week or two.

“Even a week ago it was difficult for us to accommodate children suffering from non-ARI ailments at our PICU. Now there is an ease,” said Mihir Sarkar, professor of paediatrics at Medical College Hospital Kolkata.

Currently, between 10 per cent and 30 per cent of PICU beds across city hospitals have kids suffering from other ailments. The OPD footfall in ARI clinics has gone down by about 25 per cent.

“Even two weeks ago all our 14 PICU beds were occupied by children suffering from ARI, among whom 90 per cent were confirmed adenovirus cases. Currently, we have 3 children who are suffering from other ailments. The OPD footfall of ARI cases, too, have gone down by 25 per cent,” said Prabhas Prasun Giri, associate professor of paediatrics at Institute of Child Health Kolkata.

Paediatrician Saugata Acharya of CMRI said the hospital would get new admission of ARI cases daily even a week ago. Currently, five of its eight PICU beds are occupied by kids suffering from viral infection while the rest are catering to children with other ailments. “Severity of the infection also seems to have come down,” said Acharya.

“New admissions are going down. But we still have some kids, who are battling bad infection,” said professor Dilip Pal, principal, Dr BC Roy PG Institute of Paediatric Sciences.