Noida: The administration has partnered with the Indian Academy of Pediatrics (IAP) to start the Training of Upcoming Child Health workers (TOUCH) programme for nursing and paramedical staff in Gautam Budh Nagar.
The decision comes after the district administration met representatives from all hospitals in the district to start preparations for the third wave that is expected to affect children more.
Officials said staff from all government and private hospitals in the city will be trained for five days to handle and treat children.
Next Monday, 50 staffers from GIMS and Sharda hospital will be trained.
“It is a two-pronged programme with a focus on general childcare as well as Covid care.
In the first phase, we will train nursing staff on basic paediatric handling, for instance, how to identify distress in children and manage them quickly before a doctor comes,” said Dr Ambrish Gupta, representative of IAP in GB Nagar and professor at Sharada hospital.
The second phase involves specific Covid care for children.
“The nursing staff needs to be aware of basic Covid symptoms and how to differentiate between mild, moderate and severe cases.
They should also be trained in ventilator-use, reading blood graph and ICU management,” added Dr Gupta.
He added, according to data from the ministry of health and family welfare, only about 10-20% of child healthcare workers are properly trained.
Officials said training is required as the situation is more complicated among kids than adults.
“The TOUCH programme is expected to help us train the nursing and paramedical staff to understand the needs of children.
We have to be prepared for all scenarios.
It can be done now with cases reducing in the district,” said Suhas LY, district magistrate.
Officials said hospitals are already making arrangements to accommodate parents along with children in hospitals.
All hospitals with paediatric wards and ICUs will have space to keep at least one parent with every Covid-positive child.