PUNE: The state’s women and child development (WCD) department has made regular Covid-19 tests mandatory at the 460 childcare institutions housing 10,000 children in Maharashtra after some positive cases were detected in such facilities.
State WCD minister Yashomati Thakur on Wednesday said the decision was taken against the backdrop of a possible third Covid wave. Cases were reported from the institutions in Mankhurd (18) and Ulhasnagar (14).
Thakur said all district collectors have been told to ensure that medical officers conduct these tests and immediately isolate children with symptoms. The district administration would have to earmark a dedicated Covid care centre for these children, she said.
“These instructions were issued earlier also, but the recent cases make it mandatory for all collectors to ensure that medical teams are sent to these centres. The staff at these institutions should also be mandatorily vaccinated. Ahead of the possible third wave, the paediatric task force issued guidelines and separate wards have been readied for children,” Thakur said.
Regular tests must in state’s 460 childcare centres: WCD minister
Both RT-PCR and rapid antigen tests would be conducted at the childcare centres to detect Covid cases, the minister said. Feedback on repeated tests would be taken from the women and child welfare department officials posted in the districts, she said.
WCD commissioner Rahul More said all steps were being taken to ensure that the children were regularly tested to prevent any spurt in Covid-19 cases, especially in the wake of the possibility of the third wave. He said all collectors and health officials had been told to ensure that medical camps were conducted to ensure adequate testing on symptomatic children, and even staffers, at these centres.
“The same was done during the first wave, too. But ahead of the possible third wave and after the experts’ warning about children likely to get affected more, the administration and the health officials would have to be more cautious,” the commissioner said.
50 out of 580 children losing parents to Covid rehabilitated
A total of 50 of the 580 children who lost their parents to Covid have been rehabilitated at children’s homes in the state, said the women and child development commissioner, Rahul More.
Nearly 19,000 children lost one parent to Covid in Maharashtra, so far.
They were being covered under the Bal Sangopan Yojana of the state government.
The officer added that Rs1,100 was being transferred to their accounts each month.
The state women and child department has been allocated Rs40 crore for rehabilitating children losing parents. The work is on to trace them.
694 homes removed from the list
Nearly 694 homes were removed from the list of 1,154 childcare institutions in Maharashtra under the new state government rules and the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015. The homes were removed from the list because they did not fit into the criteria.
At present, the 460 operational homes can cater to 24,000 children. As of now 10,000 children are housed at these institutions.
