Pune, August 10: India on Monday reported two swine flu deaths, with a 35-year-old ayurvedic doctor in Pune and a four-year-old boy in Chennai succumbing to the virus this morning.
The death toll from the fast spreading influenza A(H1N1) pandemic has now risen to six in India.
Ayurvedic doctor Babasahib Mane was admitted to Pune’s Sassoon General Hospital five days ago and had been on the ventilator since the last three days. He died at 7:15 am today, Maharashtra’s swine flu control room head Pradip Awate said.
The four-year-old boy is Tamil Nadu’s first victim from swine flu. He was also suffering from asthma and multiple organ failure.
Pune schoolgirl Reeda Shaikh had died on August 3, becoming India’s first swine flu victim. Sanjay Kokare, a school teacher, died in Sassoon Hospital in Pune after midnight on Saturday.
The other two swine flu victims were Pravin Patel, an NRI who died at the civil hospital in Gujarat’s main city Ahmedabad early Sunday, and Fahmida Panwala, who succumbed to the virus late Saturday in Mumbai’s Kasturba Hospital.
On Sunday, three people continued to be in a critical condition and 82 fresh cases were reported, taking the total number of people infected by the virus to 864, the Union Health Ministry said.
Authorities in Maharashtra and Gujarat – which account for the five deaths – were on high alert.
As Pune has become the epidemic city, a central team has been stationed there to assess the situation and institute appropriate public health measures.
The virus’ spread and rising toll forced Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s office on Sunday to start monitoring the situation.
PM Singh told Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad that a panel of doctors be formed to provide the people “correct information” regarding swine flu.
According to an official in the PMO, Dr Singh said the panel should also provide proper information to the media.
‘Insensitive remarks’
Even as the authorities battled swine flu, an ugly row erupted after Azad said that swine flu was contagious and those who had fallen victim to it could have passed on the virus to others.
His remarks that 14-year-old Pune schoolgirl Reeda Shaikh could have spread the virus to 80 other people by visiting more than one hospital triggered an angry response from her grieving family.
“One small girl went from one hospital to another, then a third hospital to get treatment and then a fourth, without awareness. In the process some 80 people were infected. This girl … transmitted the virus in the course of seeking treatment,” the minister said in New Delhi.
In Pune, the girl’s mother and aunt lashed out at Azad, demanding his resignation for his “insensitive remarks”.
“We want an apology from the government. (Azad) has hurt a mother… He has blamed our child for having infected around 80 others. He needs to get his facts right,” the angry mother of Reeda told reporters.
The girl’s more vocal aunt, Ayesha Shaikh, added: “Our child sacrificed her life for the nation. Because of her death so many people went for swine flu test and have tested positive. We want an apology or resignation from Azad.”
Later, Azad apologised to the grieving family.
The Health Minister said: “It (the spread) has gone up across the world and it will also increase in India. For this we need to increase the number of beds in both government and private hospitals.”
“So far swine flu has only been restricted to well-off families,” he told a news channel.
Fahmida Panwala, 53, who succumbed to the virus late Saturday in Mumbai’s Kasturba Hospital, was the second victim of the virus. Within 24 hours, two more people died.
The authorities are closely monitoring the condition of two people – a pharmacist, who is in critical condition in Pune, and a 28-year-old businessman who is in critical condition in a Mumbai hospital.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan convened a meeting of officials and experts as a team from the National Centre for Disease Control, formerly the National Institute of Communicable Disease, left for Pune.
Pune is in the grip of panic as thousands besieged government hospitals to get themselves checked, almost all of them with their faces masked.
In New Delhi, the privately run Sanskriti School closed down for a week after three students tested positive for swine flu, including one who recently visited Britain.
According to a statement issued by the Health Ministry, about 4,084 people have been tested so far, of whom 864 are positive for the Influenza A(H1N1). It said that 523 of them have been discharged.
On Sunday, 82 laboratory-confirmed cases were reported with Pune (34) topping the list. It is followed by Delhi (13), Mumbai (12), Chennai (7), Goa (4), Vadodara (3), Kozhikode (2), Hyderabad (2), Gurgaon (2), Thiruvananthapuram (1) and Thrissur in Kerala (1), and Sirsa in Haryana (1).
-Agencies