Bhubaneswar, Jul 3 (IANS): Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said on Friday that his government will pool all available resources to ensure proper healthcare for children.

The Chief Minister said this while virtually launching a training programme for doctors on paediatric care.

"We have to be extremely cautious as there have been reports of a possible third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic and it has a high probability of impacting the children. It's going to be a real challenge if such a situation arises, and we need to be prepared," Patnaik said.

Stating that his government has approved an action plan to create infrastructure, including equipment and medicines for paediatric care, Patnaik said training of the doctors for paediatric care is very important to ensure capacity to treat children.

Keeping an eye on the possible third wave of the pandemic, the state government has designed this training programme for general duty medical officials and nursing officials.

The Chief Minister further said that Covid-19 pandemic impact has been devastating across the world.A Many countries have been affected by multiple waves of the Covid infection. India has also been severely affected by two waves of Covid infection.

"Since more than one year, Odisha has been on high alert to tackle the pandemic situation. We have taken proactive steps to contain the spread of the virus," he said.

Saying that the state has established a large network of government and private Covid hospitals across the districts to provide quality treatment to the people for free, he thanked the efforts of all the doctors and healthcare staff for ensuring timely treatment for the Covid patients.