Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Tamil Nadu kids rising

Chennai: After 11 children admitted to Government Rajaji Medical College hospital in Madurai were diagnosed with Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) as a post-Covid-19 condition, health officials feel an urgent need for revival of post-Covid-19 clinics that are now non-functional.

Reports from the Government Rajaji Medical College Hospital, Madurai indicates that 37 children under the age of 13 were treated for MIS-C with zero casualties during the two waves of the pandemic.

Of the 37, a total of 26 were treated till March 2021 while 11 children were treated since April 2021.

Balashankar, head of the department of Pediatrics, Government Rajaji Medical College Hospital, Madurai told IANS: "We are preparing ourselves for a probable third wave and arrangements are being made to set up a dedicated wards for children with 102 beds including 30 ICU beds in the ground floor of the super-specialty block of the hospital."

Tamil Nadu Health Department officials said that there is a steady increase in the MIS-C cases across the state and the department is in the process of diagnosing and treating these children. However, fatality rates are around zero.

Rajani Arun, senior pediatrician, at a Government hospital in Chennai told IANS: "The children who develop MIS-C symptoms, including high fever for more than two days, conjunctivitis skin rashes, pain in the abdomen, sudden dullness and breathlessness require immediate attention."

She said: "MIS-C may lead to a multi-organ failure affecting the heart, lung, liver, and brain, and hence early detection is very important and this disease can be diagnosed clinically and through screening of kidney, heart or lungs using MRI techniques."

Mild and moderately affected patients are treated using steroids while severe cases are treated using Immunoglobulin (IV-IG) and doctors agree that IntraVenous treatment has given the desired results and patients were getting cured.

While Covid cases are coming down in the state, the post-Covid cases like the mucormycosis (black fungus) and MIS-C are rapidly increasing and hence there is a need to reopen the post-Covid treatment centres in Medical colleges which are defunct now.

Ali Satar, a retired professor of Community medicine in Tamil Nadu government service told IANS: "Several medical colleges in the state have now converted the post-Covid treatment centres into extensions of other departments and these defunct post-Covid treatment centres have to be restored to counter post-Covid complications."

However, hospital authorities are of the opinion that even after repeated calls to the families of the recovered Covid patients, the response was not good and hence most of the hospitals have also dropped the tracking of post-Covid patients.