Delhi government-run Lok Nayak hospital, the biggest Covid-19 treatment facility in the city, has now opened a separate ward for children who come in with the viral infection. The ward has posters with Hindi and English alphabets along with pictures on it. There is also a play area with colourful posters and matting with alphabets on it, and toys for the children being treated at the hospital. A small park with slides and swings has also put set up for the children.
“We get many children who are Covid-19 positive and are admitted to the hospital along with their parents. However, if the parents develop complications and need to be moved the intensive care units then the children used to cry. They wanted to go back home. So, we felt very bad about how the pandemic was affecting little children and wanted to do something about it,” said Dr Suresh Kumar, director of the hospital.
The hospital has also installed seven televisions sets that play cartoons for the children. So far, 415 Covid-19 positive children have received treatment at the hospital. There is also a separate ward for children who do not have the infection.
“Sometimes the patients have travelled to Delhi from UP, Haryana and Punjab and they do not have any place to leave their children behind. So, we have also created a ward for such children to stay in while their parents get treated,” said Dr Suresh.
The facility has been created in the paediatric ward of the hospital. At any given time, there are 30 to 40 children admitted to these wards.
At present, 811 patients are admitted to the hospital, according to data from the Delhi Corona app.
