Maternity and Pediatrics Hospital overloaded with pediatric patients due to weather

(Baonghean) - From the beginning of November until now, due to the change of weather and seasons, the number of pediatric patients has increased dramatically, causing Nghe An Maternity and Pediatrics Hospital to be overloaded again.

According to statistics up to now, the hospital has received 5,701 pediatric patients for examination, on average 90 - 100 cases per day must be hospitalized for treatment, mainly children with digestive diseases, respiratory infections, Ear - Nose - Throat... Currently, the hospital has 548 beds (the quota is only 320GB) but the number of pediatric patients receiving inpatient treatment is 938 children, many departments are overloaded, forcing pediatric patients to share 3 - 4 children/bed, typically in the departments: Respiratory, Digestive, Infectious...

Patients increase at Nghe An Maternity and Pediatrics Hospital

According to Dr. Phan Van Tu, Director of the Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital, the number of hospitalized children has increased, forcing them to share beds, and many departments have had to add more beds in the hallways. According to regulations, only serious cases are admitted to the hospital to limit overload. However, in the treatment departments, there are 3 to 4 children sharing a bed. In this situation, many departments have had to arrange to open more beds as required. However, with the current weather conditions, the overload situation will continue to be more severe because the number of patients is expected to increase every day.

At the same time, Dr. Phan Van Tu recommends that families with young children should proactively learn about and prevent diseases for their children. Children need to wear moderate clothing suitable for the changing weather; regularly wipe away sweat when children move a lot; Children should be given cooked food and boiled water, avoid eating food that has been reheated, especially giving children a lot of water. The increase in children's illnesses is partly due to parents' mistakes in caring for their children, mainly due to improper clothing: when the weather turns a bit cold, children are dressed too warmly, sweating a lot but not wiped off in time, soaking in, causing many children to get pneumonia. Many children also have stomachaches and diarrhea due to gastrointestinal infections, unhygienic food, and unwashed fruit.

According to Dr. Tu, sick children should stay home from school and should not come into contact with other children. Children still going to class and coming into contact with many friends can cause them to be infected with many new diseases, weaken their resistance, and spread the disease to many children in the same class. A special note is that parents should not buy medicine for their children without a doctor's guidance, because using the wrong medicine can lead to unpredictable consequences. In addition, families should not rush to take their children to the hospital when the first signs appear. Moving around a lot and being exposed to the crowded environment of the hospital can make children more seriously ill. Therefore, children should be taken to the nearest medical facility for diagnosis and advice on appropriate medication. For babies under 1 month old, when they show signs of nasal congestion, parents can clean their baby's nose with saline or have their nose suctioned... Only take the baby to the hospital when they have a cough with phlegm, are lethargic, difficult to wake up, the baby sucks poorly or refuses to suck, has a high fever... if left for a long time, it can lead to severe pneumonia or acute asthma.

Thuy Hien

(Provincial Information and Education Center)