About 90 more paediatric beds were set up at three government hospitals in Kolkata on Wednesday, coinciding with the death of two more children suffering from adenovirus infection at the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital.
The state has been witnessing for a few months a high-rate of viral infections among children, causing a spurt in hospital admissions. The most common symptoms of the infections are fever and respiratory illness.
A health department official said 50 more beds were set up at the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital, 20 at Chittaranjan Seva Sadan and 22 at the Dr BC Roy Post Graduate Institute of PaediatricSciences. All beds were ready to admit patients on Wednesday evening.
“All the beds have oxygen support and monitors,” said an official.
Earlier, the department had decided to add 50 paediatric beds at the Beleghata ID Hospital, but those had not become operational by Wednesday. An official said they were hoping the beds would be operational by next week.
A number of children have died of respiratory illnesses across the state in the last few days.
Two babies passed away at the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital on Wednesday. Both tested positive for the adenovirus. One of them had been cured of the viral infection but died of problems arising out of a congenital heart disease, said an official of the hospital.
“The seven-month-old boy was from Howrah’s Udaynarayanpur. He was admitted to our hospital on February 19. He had been cured of the viral infection but died of problems related to a congenital heart disease,” said the official.
The other victim was a 22-day-old girl from Chinsurah, in Hooghly, who was admitted to Calcutta Medical College on February 22.
Officials said many of the children who are becoming severely ill are undernourished. Some of them had a premature birth or had low birth weight. Most of the children requiring hospitalisation were less than two-years old, they said.