Second wave of Covid-19 aggressive, impacting kids significantly: DAK
Srinagar, April 17:Following the surge in Covid-19 cases in Kashmir, Srinagar’s SMHS hospital Saturday decided to cancel elective surgeries and closed some of its OPDs, officials said.
The hospital authorities informed that only emergency surgeries would be performed at the hospital till further orders due to the rise in Covid-19 cases.
Principal Government Medical College Srinagar, Dr Samia Rashid said they held a meeting on Saturday, which decided to cancel the elective surgeries at the hospital as a precautionary measure in view of rise in new cases.
“We have stopped elective surgeries as we are preparing to manage the new surge in Covid-19 cases. We will only continue with emergency surgeries,” she said.
Samia said that there are 232 beds available for the Covid-19 patients
The SMHS hospital has already stopped OPDs in medicine and surgery departments while OPD in dermatology, ophthalmology etc would continue to work.
Meanwhile Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) Saturday said that the children are also prone to the dangers of the virus which has gotten stronger.
“There were only a few documented cases worldwide, and most cases were asymptomatic. However, the second wave of Covid-19 has come with different aggression, high rate of transmission, changed spectrum of illness and virus is impacting kids significantly,” president DAK, Dr Suhail Naik.
He said due to continuous viral replication, it develops different changes in its genetic code called as mutations, and subsequent alterations in its antigenic structure and virulence factors.
“Different mutations have led to different variants of virus with increased capability to infect people. The distinction in spike proteins, which the virus uses to attach itself to the body and multiply, could also become more aggressive and cause more infections,” he said.
As schools are closed, the kids usually contract infection from adults who go outside home and don’t follow public health advisory religiously.
The doctors’ body appealed to people to get vaccinated and follow precautionary measures including wearing face masks, hand hygiene and avoiding public gatherings.
