Training Paediatricians, Improving Infrastructure: How Mumbai Is Preparing For 3rd COVID Wave
India was mostly caught off guard by the second wave of COVID-19 a couple of months ago when everyone was under the impression that the pandemic is over in the country.
Now with the worst of the second wave seemingly behind us, while the majority of the population is eager to go back to a normal life, authorities are gearing up for the third wave.
According to most scientists and health experts, the third wave of COVID-19 is inevitable in India and it is only a matter of when.
There are already fears that the third wave of COVID-19 that is said to affect more children is just around the corner.
In Maharashtra, there are already reports of a high number of infections among children in May and the authorities there have said that the state could see the third wave in July or August.
Preparing for third wave
Keeping this in mind, Mumbai, which struggled initially with one of the highest caseloads in the country, is now preparing for the worst.
Mumbai is building four mammoth centres across the city with units for children infected with COVID-19 and it is working closely with a special task force that includes some of India's top paediatricians.?
Mumbai's Municipal Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal, widely credited for successfully managing the surge there, said the four COVID care centres with paediatric units, as good as hospitals, will be able to house more than a thousand children along with a parent.
The city is spending tens of millions of dollars to build the paediatric units and is already procuring ventilators, monitors and other medical equipment. The facilities, which will also have intensive-care units (ICUs), will be ready by next month, well before experts predict the third wave will hit, said Chahal.
Apart from these units, the government is also in talks with hospitals to increase the number of paediatric beds and ICUs. The paediatric task force, led by Dr Suhas Prabhu, plans to train about 660 paediatricians on how to handle children affected by COVID-19, and then broaden the training to more staff. The third wave might not end up affecting children greatly, but cities like Mumbai cannot afford to be caught off guard, Prabhu said.
BMC’s first genome sequencing laboratory to come up
BMC’s first genome sequencing laboratory will come up at Kasturba Hospital later this month to help find variants of concern in Covid-positive samples at the earliest and implement public health measures.
“We will have our genomic laboratory ready later this month and we are in the process of tying up with management institutes to analyse past Covid trends in the city to arrive at answers,” BMC additional municipal commissioner Suresh Kakani told The Times of India.
Like other cities, Mumbai is also in a race against time to get the maximum number of people vaccinated against COVID-19 before the third wave. As the shortage of vaccines continues, BMC on its own is trying to procure the doses from the international market.
