PUDUCHERRY: Over 500 children with fever, cough and cold have been visiting the Rajiv Gandhi Government Hospital for Women and Children in Puducherry every day for the past few days and beds have been increased for more patients, Director of Health and Family Welfare Dr G Sriramulu said on Saturday. Though the number of beds in the hospital’s paediatric unit is 120, on Friday, 192 children were admitted as inpatients.
Also, 40-50 patients visit Indira Gandhi Government General Hospital daily with fever symptoms and 12 patients were admitted to the hospital on Friday, Sriramulu said.
Fever cases among kids and adults have been rising over the past 10 days here. JIPMER has been getting over 30 children with fever every day and 10 severe cases have been admitted so far, said Dr Narayanan Parameswaran, head of the paediatrics department. Most are infants affected by a respiratory syncytial virus, and others have H1N1 or dengue.
There is no unusual pattern in the numbers or severity of infection compared to previous years, Narayanan said. Most of the children, unless there are some complications, recover, he said. “My daughter has been suffering from fever, throat pain and fatigue for three days,” said the mother of a five-year-old at Rajiv Gandhi Government Hospital. “With the government declaring school holiday for a week, the scope for transmission of infection will reduce,” Sriramulu said