Vadodra/Pune, August 11: Swine flu deaths continued unabated with two girls and a 63-year-old woman today succumbing to the deadly virus, taking the countrywide toll to ten even as the Centre asked the states to take urgent steps to tackle the pandemic.
In Pune, the disease claimed the life of a 13-year-old; in Mumbai, a 63-year-old was killed; and in Vadodara, a seven-year-old girl succumbed to the fever.
Vadodra in Gujarat reported its first flu victim when a seven-year-old girl, Arya Borde, who was in a critical condition, died due to the viral disease, Sir Sayajirao Gaeikwad Hospital Medical Superintendent Atul Saxena said.
“She was on ventilator support since August 7….The result of H1N1 test was confirmed on August 8. She became critical today morning and passed away at 12.30 hours,” Principal Secretary, Health, Ravi Saxena said.
In Pune, the worst hit city in Maharashtra, 13-year- old Shruti Gawade, a student of Ahilyadevi school, died due to the virus infection. She had been kept on ventilator since August 7 at government-owned Sassoon hospital where she was brought from a private hospital in a critical condition, said Pandurang Pawar, Medical Superintendent of Sassoon hospital.
Sayeeda Dorheewala, a 63-year-old woman, died in a private hospital at Byculla in South Mumbai as a result of swine flu. The woman, who was from Mumbra in Thane district, had been hsopitalised with fever in Noor hospital on August six and had tested positive along with other complications, according to the Municipal Coporation of greater Mumbai.
Another girl Shahida Warsi, died at a private hospital in Mumbai.
“The deceased was from Thane and had been brought to Mumbai for treatment,” said Additional Municipal Commissioner Manisha Mhaiskar.
She had been brought to Mumbai’s Noor Hospital in Byculla five days ago for treatment.
Officials expressed surprise that she was admitted and treated for swine flu at a private hospital that was not on the government list of facilities authorised to treat cases of the disease.
Preliminary reports indicated that she had died around 6 a.m. but it was confirmed only much later that she had succumbed to swine flu.
Pune tops the list of casualties with five deaths so far followed by two in Mumbai and one each in Ahmedabad, Chennai and Vadodara.
Azad asks CMs to act
With the swine flu deaths on the rise, Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has spoken to 22 Chief Ministers informing them of the steps being taken by the Centre to tackle the spread of the disease and the guidelines framed for allowing private labs and hospital to conduct tests and treat suspected cases.
A senior Health Ministry official said Azad spoke to the chief ministers last night impressing upon them the need to take measures to tackle the spread of the virus.
Azad also held meetings with senior officials of his Ministry this morning to take stock of the situation, he said. He will hold a meeting with around 35 additional and joint secretaries in various central ministries before their visits to state capitals for stepping up efforts to contain the pandemic.
The move comes two days after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asked Azad to augment the response mechanism in the wake of the rapid spread of the disease, which has claimed 10 lives so far.
With today’s deaths, a total of five persons have died in Pune, two in Mumbai and one each in Ahmedabad, Vadodra and Chennai.
Giving an update on the situation in Pune, a senior doctor of the Sassoon hospital said nine swine flu patients were currently admitted in the ICU out of which six were on ventilator. The condition of four is “very critical” and two is “relatively critical,” he said.
“We have enough stockpiles of Tamilflu (anti-flu drug),” he said, noting that the Sassoon hospital was treating patients not only from Pune but also several neighbouring areas.
As many as 95 fresh cases–half of them from Pune–were reported across the country yesterday, taking the total of those affected to 960.
–Agencies–