Mumbai: The book shelf contains copies of Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Whimpy Kid, Enid Blyton’s Famous Five adventure series, R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps and board books for younger children, among other titles. The walls are painted with colourful images of comic book and television cartoon characters like Chhota Bheem, Winnie the Pooh, The Little Mermaid — and some astronauts, for a dash of the cerebral. And the residents will be served from a menu that includes Chinese and continental dishes.
The above is not the description of a children’s play pen or nursery, but a paediatrics Covid care facility for children aged till 12 in Pune — perhaps one of the first in the country to start operations.
An isolation centre for asymptomatic Covid positive children, the facility is part of a larger 200-bed, Dr Balasaheb Ambedkar Covid Care Centre in Yerawada that was inaugurated last week.
The idea of a fancy paediatric ward may seem like a stretch to some, given how the country has been battling for essentials to treat patients, but the aim is to make young patients forget that they are ill.
Rubal Agarwal, additional municipal commissioner at the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), told ThePrint, “We are seeing a lot of Covid cases among children and this is feared to increase when the third wave hits. Very few cases are symptomatic. Most are asymptomatic cases, where the child is infected because of the parents. So, I would appeal to parents to take care of themselves to protect their children.”
She added that the new Covid paediatric care facility will only be for asymptomatic children.
“If there are critical symptomatic cases, we are blocking 20 beds at our existing Covid care facility on the premises of the College of Engineering Pune,” Agarwal said. Of the 20 beds reserved for children, 10 will be beds with oxygen support, while five each will be those with ventilator support and ICU beds, she said.
According to data shared by the Maharashtra government, as yet, 3.08 per cent of the state’s total Covid cases have been in the 0-10 age group. As of 23 May, of the 55,62,248 Covid positive cases in Maharashtra, 1,71,335 have been among children up to 10 years of age.
Pune has been among the worst-affected cities in the state, in both waves of the pandemic. According to data shared by the PMC, as of Sunday, the civic body had recorded 4,65,625 Covid positive cases, of which 10,676 are currently active.
Several local bodies across Maharashtra, including in the capital Mumbai, are building paediatric Covid care facilities though Pune’s is the first one to go live.
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“An environment where children can forget about disease”
A 40-bedded facility, the centre was created by the PMC with the help of non-government organisations such as the Centre for Youth Development and Activities (CYDA) and a memorial trust managed by local corporator, Avinash Salve.
“Children will be the most comfortable if their parents or a loved one is around. So, we have made arrangements for one parent to stay in the facility,” said Salve. For very young children, we have separate rooms too, where two children can stay with their mothers. The parents will be given appropriate safety gear, including PPE kits, if needed. This way, even if a child wants to meet his or her parent at 1 a.m., they can.”
Salve added that they “have tried to keep the environment as lively and normal as possible. We want them to forget that they are recovering from a disease and be happy.”
The area has a general ward, a canteen and a play area for children. The corridors to the ward are lined with a painting of a long train, with comic books characters such as Micky Mouse, Donald Duck and The Powerpuff Girls as passengers.
The play area has a jungle theme with an artificial grass carpet lining the floor, and the walls decorated with paintings of wild animals such as monkeys, zebras, a lion, deer, a rhinoceros and a hippopotamus. There are small colourful chairs and tables with about 20 puzzles and games, and about 25-30 books in Hindi, English and Marathi, Matthew Mattam, founder and secretary of CYDA, told ThePrint.
The eating area has bright white and red table cloths, with small stools and chairs.
“Unlike in the adult wards, we will attempt to provide kids with a variety of food according to their liking,” said Mattam. “We are speaking to a paediatric nutritionist regarding the same. We will try to incorporate noodles, continental food, and whatever the children fancy as part of their meals.”
The Dr Balasaheb Ambedkar Covid Care Centre also has separate sections for adolescents between 12 -18 years, as well as for senior citizens, he said.
“The centre also has 10 oxygen beds to cater to any emergencies and an ambulance on call in case any patient becomes critical and needs to be transferred to a larger hospital,” said Mattam.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)