Special children’s ward set up in Andhra's Ongole government hospital

ONGOLE: The district administration has set up a special children’s ward in the Ongole Government General Hospital (GGH-RIMS), preparing to face a possible third Covid-19 wave. Taking a serious note of the central and State governments alerts, the Ongole GGH has set up 20-bed children’s ward in the old Dialysis Unit of the hospital. If necessary, this may be increased  up to 50 beds, as per superintendent Dr D Sree Ramulu. 

Currently, there are seven paediatricians in the GGH and the authorities are planning to recruit few more private paediatricians. In this connection, the district administration is making efforts to administer Covid-19 vaccine to all mothers whose children are below five years of age in the district. 

The Medical and Health department has conducted a survey and collected the details of all children below 5 years and their mothers in the district. According to the survey, there are around 3.25 lakh mothers having children below 5 years of age in the district. 

“We are ready to administer vaccine to the 3.25 lakh mothers, depending on availability of the vaccine stock. As of now, we are making all necessary arrangements to establish a  special children ward in the Ongole GGH to accommodate children who may fall victim to the infection,” District Medical and Health Officer (DM&HO) Dr P Ratnavali told TNIE on Thursday.