Purnia hospital sees rise in viral fever cases among kids

PURNIA: The footfall of children with symptoms of high fever, nasal rhinitis and upper respiratory infection has gone up at the outpatient department (OPD) of Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) in Purnia. However, none of them has so far been tested positive for Covid.
Purnia civil surgeon Dr S K Verma said of the 21 children undergoing treatment at the paediatrics unit of the GMCH, 10 are viral fever patients.“No child with Covid infection has been admitted to the hospital,” he said.
The civil surgeon added children, especially those in the age group of two to five years, have been coming to the hospital in large numbers. “Most cases are of viral nature. However, some children are also complaining of upper respiratory infections, breathlessness and high fever. On Friday, 27 children were treated at the OPD of the hospital,” Dr Verma added.
Asked if high fever causes convulsions, he said, “To prevent convulsions due to high fever among children, we give them Paracetamol and it temporarily passes off. As a precautionary measure, we conduct rapid antigen test on children coming to the hospital to rule out Covid infection and make it doubly sure that RT-PCR test is also performed on them.”
“Altogether 64 children came to the hospital OPD for treatment with medical conditions like high fever, nasal rhinitis, breathlessness and upper respiratory infections in the last three days. No patient was found suffering from meningitis or Covid,” Dr Verma said.
He added, “The paediatrics unit of the hospital is equipped with oxygen cylinders, humidifiers, oxygen masks and life-saving drugs. Two pressure swing absorption (PSA) oxygen generation plants with capacity to produce 1,000 litres of oxygen per minute are also in a ready mode.”