Plea to close schools in Bahrain following ‘rising flu cases’

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Parents in large numbers are pleading to the authorities to have a temporary shutdown of schools in the Kingdom in light of rising flu cases.

They claim the situation is worsening day-by-day, with no space left to admit their children suffering from flu and other related symptoms even at private hospitals in the Kingdom.

Private hospital management representatives confirmed to The Daily Tribune that there has been a sudden flood of child patients suffering from flu-like symptoms into the hospital, and accommodating them and “offering them the right treatment has become a challenge”.

Speaking to The Daily Tribune, a Bahrain resident, whose five-year-old daughter is suffering from flu-like symptoms, said: “It has been three weeks since my daughter has been suffering from intermittent fever. Her body temperature rose frequently and it even touched 109 Fahrenheit.

“We are really worried as to what to do now. All children’s wards at private hospitals across the Kingdom are full with flu cases and there is no space to even admit the newly-infected children.

I request the authorities to shut down the schools for a week or so to stop this chain of transmissions from one child to the other.”

Another parent, a Bahraini, said her four-year-old child has been suffering from intermittent fever attacks for over a month now. “I really don’t understand what kind of a mystery fever this is. The doctors have no answers.

They keep on prescribing antibiotics and X-ray tests, which are not bringing any positive results. “Just think of the suffering of a small child, who can’t eat or sleep properly.

I believe there is a widespread infection across the student community in the Kingdom and to curb this spread the schools have to be closed at least for two weeks.”

A third parent, who also doesn’t want to be named in the report, said he knows at least a dozen children who are struggling with flu-like symptoms for the past two weeks.

“My son is really having a tough time. He neither sleeps properly nor takes any food.

We are really worried as doctors have no answers. “I feel there is also a shortage of antibiotics for children at the pharmacies in the Kingdom.

This could be because of many parents buying as well as stocking it to tackle these intermittent episodes of fever that troubles their children.

I urge the health authorities to take stock of the situation and implement the right measures to avert fear from the minds of parents in the country.”

According to private hospital management sources, there has also been an increase in the number of pneumonia cases among the children.

“We can understand the infection among children and this happens generally during this period of the year when the weather is changing.

But the increasing volume of cases is definitely a matter of worry and something needs to be done urgently,” a source pointed out.

More than 147,000 students returned to 210 government schools following a long gap of almost three years during the first week of last month.

World Health Organisation (WHO) experts recently warned that Covid-19 threat is far from over in the Middle East region.

“People are still getting infected and dying.

The pandemic is not over and Covid-19 is not going away.

Living with caution is important. We have learnt several important lessons from the pandemic days and countries should continue to strengthen their surveillance.”