Changing seasons, nearly 1,000 children go to hospital every day

(Baonghean) - From October 12 to 14, nearly 1,000 children came to Nghe An Maternity and Pediatrics Hospital for examination and treatment every day.

Most of the children suffered from illnesses such as flu, diarrhea, fever of unknown origin, and sore throat. The high number of children admitted to the hospital has caused many departments of Nghe An Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital to be overloaded and unable to accept more children for treatment, such as the respiratory and cardiovascular departments.

Doctor Nguyen Thi Thanh Ha, Head of the Examination Department, said: The number of children with the disease suddenly increased, the reason is that at the time of changing seasons, disease-causing bacteria have conditions to develop rapidly, especially bacteria that cause respiratory, digestive, and infectious diseases.

Respiratory Department - Nghe An Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital is always overloaded.

In the respiratory department, there are many children under 5 years old with pneumonia who are being treated. These children have an incomplete immune system, and initially only had mild illness, but because their parents did not know how to treat it in time, the illness became severe. On the peak day of October 12, there were up to 150 children receiving inpatient treatment in the department, while the department only had 40 beds. To treat the children, the respiratory department had to add more beds in the hallway. Children slept in pairs or threes, so the risk of infection was very high.

Dr. Bui Anh Son, Head of the Respiratory Department, added: Many children are hospitalized when their condition is very serious and complicated. The reason is that parents arbitrarily buy medicine for them to take without a doctor's prescription, causing poisoning. The most common cause of poisoning is fever-reducing medicine, which directly affects the liver. Recently, a child in Nghia Dan district used the wrong medicine and suffered liver failure, with liver enzymes increasing to 2,000 units, and the hospital had to transfer them to a higher level for dialysis.

Many departments of Nghe An Maternity and Pediatrics Hospital are overloaded because the number of children admitted to the hospital increases during the changing seasons.

In addition to children with respiratory diseases and diarrhea, doctors at Nghe An Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital also discovered many children with infectious diseases such as hand, foot and mouth disease and chicken pox. In mild cases, doctors prescribe medicine for home treatment and schedule follow-up visits; in severe cases, they are hospitalized to prevent serious complications and death.

Doctors said that many children's illnesses became serious because parents self-treated them and did not take them to medical facilities in time.

Doctor Nguyen Thi Thanh Ha recommends: The diet at this time needs to be more nutritious to improve children's resistance; it is necessary to practice good personal hygiene such as washing hands with soap before preparing and feeding children as well as taking care of children. When the weather is cold, parents need to wear long-sleeved shirts that are warm enough for children; do not dress too warmly, causing children to sweat a lot, which can easily cause pneumonia. Most importantly, parents need to take their children to get vaccinated fully and on schedule according to regulations to prevent diseases; when children get sick, they need to take them to medical facilities for examination and treatment, and should not arbitrarily buy medicine to treat children at home.

Thanh Son