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About 75 % of more than 500,000 cases seen across Paediatric Emergency Centres (PECs) in the country between June 2012 and June 2013, were less urgent, which could have been handled at the Primary Healthcare Centres, a senior PEC official said yesterday.
“We have observed that majority of cases coming to our centres are still those cases that do not warrant urgent attention,” PECs assistant director Dr Mohamed al-Amri said.
According to him, the PECs at Al Sadd and Al Rayyan saw up to 25,000 and 12,000 patients respectively within one year, who were suffering from acute gastroenteritis or stomach flu.
Gastroenteritis is an infection of the stomach and bowel (large intestine), caused by bacteria or viruses. Its symptoms could include vomiting and diarrhoea.
PECs are specialised centres providing urgent care for children from birth to 16 years.
It receives daily up to 1,100 cases while this could go up to around 1,500 during winter.
“Towards the onset of winter, we always anticipate drastic increase in the number of patients visiting our centres as cases of flu, upper respiratory infections, sneezing and coughing increase during this time. However, all these cases can be treated at PHCs by general practitioners,” Dr al-Amri insisted while pointing out that the remaining 25% including those patients with immune-deficiency problems, cardiac cases and sick infants less than one-year-old, were actually those in need of PECs’ care.
For older children without any serious sign of illness, PHCs are best suited for them, he said.
Dr al-Amri said that during last weekend, the PEC saw more than 1,000 patients daily with most cases related to viral illnesses, upper respiratory infections, gastroenteritis and other minor bacteria illnesses.
“These conditions usually increase during this period of the year, especially in September and we suspect that cases will continue to rise in coming months as winter begin to set in.
“There are more cases of infant suffering from bronchiolitis during this period, he said.
Bronchiolitis is a common illness of the respiratory tract, usually affecting children aged below two years, and caused by an infection that affects tiny airways - the
bronchioles - that lead to the lungs.
“Once a child is sick with fever, parents begin to panic and rush to us, but I’ll say that fever is not a disease but a signal of something adverse present in the body. So, instead of rushing to the PEC, the child can be taken to the PHC where paracetamol or antihistamine medications can be prescribed and that should be enough,” he said.
Dr al-Amri also said that some parents could really be in a hurry for their sick children to get well immediately they start administering medications forgetting that the drugs need time to take effect.
Also according to him, in one year, Al Sadd PEC received some 35 cases related to foreign body aspiration (choking) and around 11 cases of drowning or near drowning among children, which he said was a bit on the high side, given the population of the country.
“Most of these cases were rushed in by parents or family members and most of the drowning or near-drowning cases occurred in home swimming pools,” he said while advising parents to be on the look out for their children, especially while around a pool of water.
“It is important for parents to keep an eye on their children when they are playing in the water because we have come to realise that some parents tend to entrust the safety of their younger children in the hands of their older siblings while in the swimming pool. This is wrong as adult supervision is required at all times,” he lamented.
Drowning has been identified as the number one killer of children under five in Qatar