Due to COVID-19 pandemic, fewer children are seeing their pediatricians

Medicaid data shows that pediatric appointments have gone down 16% in South Carolina since last year

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WOLO) — As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, fewer parents are bringing their children in for a routine checkup.

South Carolina Medicaid data shows that pediatric visits have gone down 16% since this point last year.

Working with thousands of children for more than four decades, Dr. Robert Saul says the role a pediatrician plays is one that should not be absent from child development. 

“Pediatricians in the first two years of life typically right after birth, two months, four months, six months, nine months, twelve months, fifteen months, 18 months, 24 months, if there’s big gaps in that, then we lose track of what’s happening, we don’t provide adequate counseling on feeding, nutrition, behavior, development,” said Dr. Saul, a Greenville-based pediatrician who is also the President of South Carolina’s Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Medicaid data and surveys among South Carolina pediatricians shows that fewer parents are taking their children in for their routine checkups.

Some doctors have patients waiting in the car until they are ready for an appointment, and have also been consulting patients over Zoom or on the phone, which Dr. Saul says is not as productive of an experience.

“Much of the pediatric interaction is observation and interactions with the patients and the families. We can just pick up on things that you could never on the phone,” said Dr. Saul.

Especially with flu season around the corner, Dr. Saul says it’s more crucial now more than ever for children to come in for an appointment.

“We want to make sure the kids get shots, to keep from getting preventable diseases which could be quite serious,” Dr. Saul said. “We can look for developmental issues, we can look for family issues, we can look for mental health issues, just the whole gamut of things we normally look at.”