Goa geared up to tackle COVID-19 third wave: CM

Panaji, May 25: The Goa government on Tuesday said the infrastructure required to tackle the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic is ready, while a group of paediatricians is being trained to adhere to the treatment protocol prescribed by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

Talking to reporters, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said the infrastructure is ready and training will be completed between June 5 and 10.

"A common standard operating procedure has been worked out for private and government hospitals to treat children infected with coronavirus," the chief minister said.

The department of paediatrics of the Goa Medical College and Hospital will be training paediatricians about the SOP recommended by AIIMS, he said. Counsellors from the State Education Department, Goa State AIDS Control Society and Women and Child Welfare Department will also be roped in as a part of programme to tackle the third wave, he said. The plan will also involve strict monitoring of COVID-19 infected children, who are placed on home isolation, he said.

Sawant further said that the state government has also decided to vaccinate lactating mothers with children below two years of age and also mothers with co-morbid conditions as priority to fight the third wave. For this, the state government has moved a proposal to the Centre to loan vaccine doses from the stock meant for people above 45 years of age.

"The state government is left with 6,000 vaccine doses for the age group of 18 to 44 years after the first round," he said, adding that the second lot of 36,000 vaccines will be arriving in June.

The chief minister said the state government has also approached two vaccine manufacturing companies to get 5 lakh and 10 lakh vaccine doses respectively.

Of the total infected population, 11 per cent were below 17 years of age and seven patients under 18 years, who had co-morbidities, have died of the infection in the state, he said.