No need to get panic with swine flu

DAINIK NATION BUREAU

There is no need for people to panic about swine flu disease in Uttarakhand, said the Director General health services Dr D S Rawat while addressing newsmen here on Tuesday. He said that only one case of the disease is found in the state till date and the department has collected samples of 15 suspected patients till date. Dr Rawat said that the one female patient who was found positive for the disease is admitted in a private hospital. The woman has recently traveled from Pune to Dehradun. The health department has started preventive treatment of the family members of the patient.

The DG said that swine flu patients are divided into three categories. In ‘A’ category patient suffers from mild fever and irritation in throat. The patients of this category should be isolated at home and there is no need of swine flu test and medication for the patient. The patients of ‘B’ category are characterized by high fever and the patient need isolation and should be administered Oseltamivir (Tami flu) medicine. The DG said that if a patient is suffering from breathlessness, low Blood Pressure along with symptoms of A and B category than he is put under category ‘C’. Such patients should be isolated, hospitalized, should be administered Tami flu and needed to be tested for swine flu.  Dr Rawat claimed that the department is on high alert and all geared up to combat the disease. He informed that all hospitals have adequate stock of Tami flu, N- 95 Masks, triple layered masks and BTM vials. All district and base hospitals have been asked to set up isolation wards for swine flu patients, he added.

The Additional Director (National Programme), Dr Kiran Bisht said that swine flu spreads by droplet infection by sneezing and coughing of the patients affected by the disease. She said that the disease is called swine flu as genetic structure of H1 N1 virus is similar to the virus infecting the pigs (swine). Dr Bisht clarified that the disease does not spreads from pigs.

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Health department’s action plan on swine flu

1 All districts put on alert.

2 All hospitals supplied with Tami flu, n 95 masks and triple layer masks.

3 H1 N1 isolation wards in all district and base hospitals.

4 The district surveillance officer of IDSP made nodal officer for swine flu.

5 Rapid Response Team (RRT) for swine flu at district and state level.

6 Daily reporting of swine flu cases.