COVID crisis: Don't administer adult medication to kids, warns Dr Anupam Sibal
India's COVID-19 crisis is in top gear as the country reported the highest-ever single-day cases in the world since the pandemic outbreak. CNBC-TV18 spoke to a panel of eminent doctors who answered important queries.
India's COVID-19 crisis is in top gear as the country reported the highest-ever single-day cases in the world since the pandemic outbreak. CNBC-TV18 spoke to a panel of eminent doctors who answered important queries.
When asked about treating COVID-19 in children and what are the medical protocols to be followed, Dr Anupam Sibal said, “In the second wave we are definitely seeing a lot more children than we saw the first time. The presentation of course is typical with fever, this time around we are also seeing a typical with diarrhoea and a gastrointestinal (GI) upset - of course, cough, feeling pretty miserable, and losing the sense of smell and taste. We are seeing a very infectious variant that has come to light in the last few weeks.”
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Dr Sibal added, “Kids are not miniature adults so you can’t really take a prescription from an adult and say okay I will make the dose half or whatever and give it. As far as kids are concerned what we are interested is in fever management with paracetamol, while Vitamin C is fine, we might want to give some Zinc, but that is where it stops. Beyond that, we won’t really rush into giving medication unless it is absolutely indicated and that could be for the cough that we might give something to soothe the throat.”
“If the child starts to deteriorate and the child becomes breathless or the fever is not settling then we order some blood tests, we might do a CT scan, but there is a radiation exposure to a growing child so we don’t rush into doing a CT and that is something that parents should keep in mind,” he added.
India recorded 3,14,835 new COVID-19 cases in a single day, the highest-ever in the world since the pandemic outbreak, as per the data shared by the Union Health Ministry. With this new surge, the total number of cases rose to 1,59,30,965, while the active cases crossing the 22-lakh mark. A total of 2,104 people lost their lives in the last 24 hours, also a single-day record for the country, taking the toll to 1,84,657.
Registration for vaccination against COVID19 for all those aged above 18 will begin on the CoWIN platform and Aarogya Setu app from April 28, officials said on Thursday. The inoculation process and documents to be submitted to get the jab remains the same.
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(Edited by : Abhishek Jha)
First Published: Apr 22, 2021 5:19 PM IST
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