Govt to spruce up measures against swine flu

Sprucing up measures to contain swine flu,the government will set up state-level rapid action forces of medical personnel to deal with the viral ailment.

Sprucing up measures to contain swine flu,the government on Monday said it would activate 16 more laboratories across the country and set up state-level rapid action forces of medical personnel to deal with the viral ailment. After a high-level meeting with senior officials,Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad told reporters,”Lot of arrangements have already been made. Passengers,especially from the US,Mexico,Dubai and Canada,are being checked on all the 21 international airports.”

But in view of the fact that the disease might acquire larger proportions,he said the government has decided to activate 16 more laboratories to test for the swine flu virus in addition to the existing two in Delhi and Pune. Azad said special caution has to be taken as the infection has now in one or two cases spread from human to human.

“The Health Ministry already has the labs,but they are for testing different diseases. They would be prepared for H1N1 flu also and the lab technicians and doctors would be trained within a week,” he said. The minister said that the government has sent a Rapid Action team to Andhra Pradesh where the first human to human transmission of swine flu was reported,but added that it was not enough.

Story continues below this ad

Azad said,”Creating more teams is not enough as we shall have to train them. So we have decided at the national level we have about 25 doctors who are trained in this type of particular diseases and would in turn train the state-level teams.”

The doctors for the state teams would be trained in a months’s time,he added. Listing other measures being taken by the ministry,he said the government has at present 10 lakh capsules of Oseltamivir which was enough to treat the same number of patients. Asked if he was satisfied with the screening process at the various international airports,he said,”So far around 15 lakh passengers have come to India from the flu-affected countries. It is not humanly possible to screen all of them. So we are focusing on people who have declared any symptom of the disease. “We are also tracking down all the co-passengers of those who have tested positive and are testing them for the virus,” he added.

The minister said there were 10 confirmed cases in the country and one in the national capital and added that the government would issue fresh advisories to defer non-essential travel to the countries affected by the disease.

Hyderabad Flu cases

The condition of six swine flu patients undergoing treatment at the government chest hospital here is stable and no fresh suspected cases were reported on Monday,a senior doctor of the hospital said. “All six cases are stable. No fresh suspected cases were reported till afternoon today,” Dr Subhakar,Coordinator of the Swine Flu nodal centre said.

Story continues below this ad

He said one of the patients,a medical student,is set for discharge this week as he has not been getting fever for one week. “His samples will be sent for confirmation and he will be discharged this week,” he said. The doctor added that samples of the family members of those tested positive for the influenza are being sent for examination.

So far seven persons,including the country’s first ever human swine flu influenza,have been reported in Andhra Pradesh. The first patient tested positive for the virus has already been discharged,while six are undergoing treatment at the chest hospital.

Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram