The Association of Private Hospitals Malaysia has noticed an increasing trend of paediatric Covid-19 patients admitted into private hospitals.
APHM president Dr Kuljit Singh (above) noted, however, that some private hospitals reported no paediatric Covid-19 admissions, but an increase in Covid-19 positive cases with mild symptoms.
“Almost all private hospitals have not reported a huge number of complicated Co-vid 19 paediatric patients with Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) associated with Covid-19 but there have been a few cases which progressed into this complication and it could be alarming if there is an increase.
“Paediatricians in the private hospitals have been updated on the management of the complications and the association will be conducting webinars presented by public hospital paediatrician within this week,” he said in a statement today.
Children under the age of 18 who are infected with Covid-19 can suffer from MIS-C, a critical condition that can occur when there is inflammation of internal organs, especially the heart, lungs, and brain.
Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said from June 2020 to December 2021, a total of 174 cases of children under the age of 18 had suffered from MIS-C due to Covid-19 infection, namely children under the age of one involving 24 cases; children aged one to those under the age of five (38); five to those under the age of nine (64); nine to children under the age of 12 (36) and 12 and older (11).
The Comirnaty (Pfizer-BioNTech) vaccine was approved for use in children aged five to 11 in Malaysia and from clinical studies, as it reported 91 percent effectiveness and was able to enhance a high immune response against Covid-19.
Vaccination at private hospitals for children between five and 11 years old has recently commenced.
Kuljit strongly urged parents to vaccinate their children to protect them from getting MIS-C which can be difficult to treat.
ICU admissions
Kuljit said that while there had also been an increase in admissions of adult Covid-19 patients, they are mainly Category 1 to 3 cases.
The ICU admissions have been lower compared to the previous Covid-19 wave in mid-2021.
Kuljit added that private hospitals have never used Ivermectin to treat Covid-19 patients, and will continue to do so in line with guidance from the Health Ministry.
“Private hospitals have never used Ivermectin to treat Covid 19 patients since the start of the pandemic and we are indeed happy to note that it has been proven not be effective based on the recent study published in Jama Internal Medicine Journal which was published by Malaysian scientist (Efficacy of Ivermectin Treatment on Disease Progression Among Adults With Mild to Moderate Covid-19 and Comorbidities The I-TECH Randomised Clinical Trial).
“We will stick to evidence based treatment with guidance from the Health Ministry,” he said. - Mkini
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