The outpatient clinics of the Regional Health Service (RGD) have changed opening hours due to the increase in the number of Rotavirus cases. Since 11 August, the RGD outpatient clinics in Latour and Limesgracht have extended opening hours, from 7 p.m. to midnight. This is to relieve the pressure on the Emergency Department (A&E) of the Academic Hospital Paramaribo (AZP). It is planned to do the same at the RGD outpatient clinic in Meerzorg.
Rakesh Gajadhar Sukul, Director of Public Health, believes that given the vulnerability of children, the situation needs to be addressed quickly.
Children are registered at both the outpatient clinics in Limesgracht and Latour. “The Rotavirus is not new, but we have to realize that it is clear that many more children are now being registered with these complaints. If you don’t act in time, the children will become dehydrated, so we have to respond to that,” says Gajadhar Sukul.
There have also been reports of older children and adults, but they are much less at risk of dehydration than children. A timely approach to small children is necessary, because their body weight is lighter, which can quickly disrupt their fluid balance.
Parents are advised to let the children drink as much as possible. Children should be given fluids and ingredients in the form of soup, tea, fresh juice and coconut water. These things are important to feed the children so that the dehydration is combated. If the child can no longer contain anything at all, fluid with components must be added in the form of an IV, even outside the intestinal tract.
It is also important to recognize dehydration in children. This can be seen in sunken eyes, dry mucous membranes, where the child sometimes cries without tears. Other signs of dehydration include little to no urine production, the slow retraction of the skin when pinched. In children under 1 year of age, there is also the sunken fontanelle which is a hallmark of dehydration.
The director of Public Health emphasizes not to use antidiarrhoeal drugs, because they ensure that the germs stay longer in the gastrointestinal tract. This encourages the body to have worse diarrhea as the body expels the germs. He also reports that there is sufficient infusion and medication.
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