Director of Health and Family Welfare Dr P Sambasiva Rao on Wednesday denied reports of deaths due to swine flu in Telangana State although he admitted that as many as 81 people were tested positive for the disease.
Addressing a press conference at Directorate of Medical & Health at Sultan Bazar here, Dr Sambasiva Rao said that eight deaths, which were reported in a section of media, were not due to swine flu, but other diseases. He said that the State Government has distributed anti-swine flu medicines in all the hospitals across the State. Claiming that Swine-flu was not a life threatening disease, he accused a section of doctors and private hospitals for creating panic among the people. Therefore, he said all private hospitals have been asked to send the swine flu patients to government hospitals for treatment. He said of 852 samples collected from different patients, 81 were tested positive for swine flu. All patients were in the age group of 31-45 years. Most of the cases have been reported from the Old City of Hyderabad.
Stating that fever, cough, body and muscle pains are the common symptoms of swine flu, Dr Sambasiva Rao advised the people to consume hygienic food, balanced diet and keep their environments clean to prevent the disease. (INN)