New Delhi, August 08: Reacting to the chaotic situation in some parts of the countries over spread of swine flu, the Government said on Friday there should not be any panic over the situation as India was not as badly affected as other countries around the world.
“Spread of H1N1 is far less in India than in most countries like the UK, the US, Australia, Japan, Thailand and Singapore where the casualty figure is very high. A lot of panic has been created in the last two days, especially since the death of the girl in Pune. There is no cause for people to go into panic mode,” Health Secretary Naresh Dayal said here in a press conference.
He asked why there was so much concern and media coverage on just one death due to swine flu in Pune. “The virus is relatively a less virulent strain of the flu. In fact, it is less virulent than the seasonal flu, which causes more deaths than this (swine flu) causes,” Dayal said.
But this should not be seen as a lack of concern from the govt, he added. “Since school kids are more susceptible to the flu, we are very concerned,” he said.
He asked the media to cooperate with the government in fighting the flu and not in spreading needless panic.
Rida Shaikh, 14, died in Pune Monday of swine flu, and health officials blamed the death to “delayed treatment”.
Meanwhile, the number of swine flu cases spiked sharply as 96 fresh cases were reported Friday, taking the total to 712 so far. The 96 cases included four in Chennai, 13 in Delhi, three in Kolkata, six in Gurgaon, 16 in Mumbai, 10 in Bangalore, three in Mangalore, four in Hyderabad and one in Calicut among others.
“The virus is relatively a less virulent strain of the flu. In fact, it is less virulent than the seasonal flu, which causes more deaths than this (swine flu) causes,” Dayal added.
Informing about the steps being taken by government on tackling swine flu, Dayal said even though there was enough Tamiflu stock in the country, it would be replenished to 10 million capsules.
Announcing that there would be decentralisation of distribution of the drug, he said every district will now store enough capsules to treat 1000 affected persons at any given time.
“Apart from that, metro cities like Delhi, Mumbai will keep stockpiles to treat upto 10000 affected persons at any given time. This will begin from Delhi and Pune first and will use atleast 72 lakh capsules,” Dayal said.
The Health Secretary also expressed satisfaction at the 18 labs currently approved for testing for swine flu.
“These labs have capacity more than required. But they wil further expand their capacity.”
The government is also working to bring down the cost of testing for swine flu which was Rs 5000 for a negative test and Rs 10,000 for a positive test by diversifying its sources of suppliers of equipment.
Dayal thus urged that only those exhibiting the actual symptoms – fever, sore throat, runny nose, nausea – should come forward for the tests.
“It is extremely important that the people go to only approved labs as of now. The Pune incident occurred because the girl was given a negative test result by the private hospital while the approved hospital gave it in positive,” he said.
Private hospitals will slowly be brought in the ambit of approved labs for testing swine flu though, he added. The govt will also release a list of hospitals authorised to test H1N1.
He said: “We have never stopped private laboratories from conducting the tests. We are considering allowing those private laboratories which have the facilities to do the tests. We are going to accreditise private labs based on their capacity to test H1N1 virus.”
But if found positive, a patient will have to go only to a designated government facility for treatment, he stressed.
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Swine flu: 2 more patients critical in PuneIn a letter to the Chief Secretaries of all states and Union Territories, Dayal said it is necessary to identify more hospitals for examination and collection of samples of suspect cases of swine flu.
He asked the states to operationalise helplines where people can call up to seek information or report outbreaks.
Dayal also asked state governments to increase the number of hospitals designated for treatment of positive cases of swine flu and allow private hospitals to treat such patients.
“It, however, needs to be ensured that such hospitals have appropriate isolation facilities and the requisite stock of Personal Protective Equipments (PPE),” Dayal said in the letter.
Zeenews Bureau
New Delhi: Reacting to the chaotic situation in some parts of the countries over spread of swine flu, the Government said on Friday there should not be any panic over the situation as India was not as badly affected as other countries around the world.
“Spread of H1N1 is far less in India than in most countries like the UK, the US, Australia, Japan, Thailand and Singapore where the casualty figure is very high. A lot of panic has been created in the last two days, especially since the death of the girl in Pune. There is no cause for people to go into panic mode,” Health Secretary Naresh Dayal said here in a press conference.
He asked why there was so much concern and media coverage on just one death due to swine flu in Pune. “The virus is relatively a less virulent strain of the flu. In fact, it is less virulent than the seasonal flu, which causes more deaths than this (swine flu) causes,” Dayal said.
But this should not be seen as a lack of concern from the govt, he added. “Since school kids are more susceptible to the flu, we are very concerned,” he said.
He asked the media to cooperate with the government in fighting the flu and not in spreading needless panic.
Rida Shaikh, 14, died in Pune Monday of swine flu, and health officials blamed the death to “delayed treatment”.
Meanwhile, the number of swine flu cases spiked sharply as 96 fresh cases were reported Friday, taking the total to 712 so far. The 96 cases included four in Chennai, 13 in Delhi, three in Kolkata, six in Gurgaon, 16 in Mumbai, 10 in Bangalore, three in Mangalore, four in Hyderabad and one in Calicut among others.
“The virus is relatively a less virulent strain of the flu. In fact, it is less virulent than the seasonal flu, which causes more deaths than this (swine flu) causes,” Dayal added.
Informing about the steps being taken by government on tackling swine flu, Dayal said even though there was enough Tamiflu stock in the country, it would be replenished to 10 million capsules.
Announcing that there would be decentralisation of distribution of the drug, he said every district will now store enough capsules to treat 1000 affected persons at any given time.
“Apart from that, metro cities like Delhi, Mumbai will keep stockpiles to treat upto 10000 affected persons at any given time. This will begin from Delhi and Pune first and will use atleast 72 lakh capsules,” Dayal said.
The Health Secretary also expressed satisfaction at the 18 labs currently approved for testing for swine flu.
“These labs have capacity more than required. But they wil further expand their capacity.”
The government is also working to bring down the cost of testing for swine flu which was Rs 5000 for a negative test and Rs 10,000 for a positive test by diversifying its sources of suppliers of equipment.
Dayal thus urged that only those exhibiting the actual symptoms – fever, sore throat, runny nose, nausea – should come forward for the tests.
“It is extremely important that the people go to only approved labs as of now. The Pune incident occurred because the girl was given a negative test result by the private hospital while the approved hospital gave it in positive,” he said.
Private hospitals will slowly be brought in the ambit of approved labs for testing swine flu though, he added. The govt will also release a list of hospitals authorised to test H1N1.
He said: “We have never stopped private laboratories from conducting the tests. We are considering allowing those private laboratories which have the facilities to do the tests. We are going to accreditise private labs based on their capacity to test H1N1 virus.”
But if found positive, a patient will have to go only to a designated government facility for treatment, he stressed.
Related Stories
13 new cases of swine flu reported in Delhi
Swine flu death: Reeda`s family to demand Rs 5 crore compensation
Swine flu in Martial Arts Games
Swine flu’s spread minimal: Health Minister
Swine flu vaccine in markets ‘by September’
Swine flu: 2 more patients critical in PuneIn a letter to the Chief Secretaries of all states and Union Territories, Dayal said it is necessary to identify more hospitals for examination and collection of samples of suspect cases of swine flu.
He asked the states to operationalise helplines where people can call up to seek information or report outbreaks.
Dayal also asked state governments to increase the number of hospitals designated for treatment of positive cases of swine flu and allow private hospitals to treat such patients.
“It, however, needs to be ensured that such hospitals have appropriate isolation facilities and the requisite stock of Personal Protective Equipments (PPE),” Dayal said in the letter.
–Agencies