Hyderabad, June 14: National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) member M Shashidhar Reddy on Saturday demanded the state government to set up four
designated hospitals to combat the swine flu instead of the one hospital that exists right now.
Addressing a press conference here, Shashidhar Reddy said the state should take it up as a challenge the fact that it has seen the maximum number of swine flu cases that have been reported in the country so far.
He said that the NDMA had given guidelines to the state on May 8 recommending various steps to be taken by the government. Saying that the Chest hospital is the only designated hospital for treating swine flu cases in the state, he wanted four such hospitals be set up in the four corners of the state.
He said that New Delhi has 11 designated hospitals.
The NDMA member said that the airports in the state be equipped with thermal scanners and rapid response teams. He suggested the government to appoint nodal officers in hospitals who would look after the cases and that they should be provided with exclusive telephone numbers.
Shashidhar Reddy said though 16 cases were confirmed in the country, there are no deaths, whereas in the US, there were 29,669 cases and 147 deaths, 549 cases and 31 deaths in Japan, 2,978 cases and four deaths in Mexico.
–Ageencies–