Swine Flu grips Punjab, eight confirmed cases, 93 suspected cases identified
NAVDEEP
Monday, 15 June 2009
CHANDIGARH: Full alert has been sounded in Punjab following detection of eight confirmed caces of swine flu and 93 suspected cases in Jalandhar. Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Health Minister Luxmi Kanta Chawla have appealed people not to panic.
While Badal has directed the health authorities take all preventive steps, the health minister said that health department was fully equipped to deal with the situation.
Chawla said here that eight cases of swine flu were confirmed and they have identified 93 more suspected cases who came into contact of infected children. These children had returened from education tour of NASA, in USA. One of the students was detained at Delhi airport while others had reached their home in Jalandhar. They will be treated in Jalandhar Civil Hospital. Two suspected cases have also been detected in Amritsar.
Badal in the meantime, has directred the Chief Secretary to gear up the medical machinery in the government medical colleges and hospitals to fully equip them for an effective treatment of the suspected patients with the symptoms of swine flu.
An official spokesman of the Punjab government said that elaborate arrangements had been made in all the civil hospitals at district headquarter where round the clock control rooms to be supervised by District Health Officers (DHOs) had been made functional. The telephone and mobile numbers of the control rooms and DHOs would be published in the prominent newspapers by the Directorate of Health Services and family welfare to enable the people to contact them in case of any emergency.
According to the spokesman, 12 suspected patients with symptoms of cough, cold and sour throat had been detected so far in the state with one confirmed case of swine flue that had been tested positive and was under treatment in Delhi. Of these 9 patients had been under treatment at civil hospital Jalandhar and 2 other suspected patients were under treatment in Guru Nanak Dev Hospital Amritsar. He further said that sufficient numbers of the sample bottles had been provided in civil hospital Jalandhar and Amritsar and were being also provided in all the district civil hospitals for the collection of samples. Besides 2500 capsules of tami-flu had been supplied for the patients in Amritsar and Jalandhar hospitals.
As many as 2500 surgical masks for the patients besides adequate number of such masks for the use of 30 doctors and 18 para-medics had been provided in these two hospitals.
On the direction of the Chief Minister, Principal Secretary Health & Family Welfare A.S.Talwar today visited the civil hospital Jalandhar and Amritsar and reviewed the suspected cases with symptoms of swine flu during a series of meetings with civil surgeons, medical superintendents and the deputy commissioners and asked them to take immediate remedial steps to check the outbreak of swine flu.
Talwar also directed all the Civil Surgeons to regularly monitor the sensitive situation in their respective districts. He also advised them to send special teams of doctors to the villages and hold medical camps at the district level thereby involving NGOs to bring awareness amongst the people about the cause and preventive cure of the swine flu in order to avoid any sort of panic amongst the masses.
NAVDEEP
Monday, 15 June 2009
CHANDIGARH: Full alert has been sounded in Punjab following detection of eight confirmed caces of swine flu and 93 suspected cases in Jalandhar. Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Health Minister Luxmi Kanta Chawla have appealed people not to panic.
While Badal has directed the health authorities take all preventive steps, the health minister said that health department was fully equipped to deal with the situation.
Chawla said here that eight cases of swine flu were confirmed and they have identified 93 more suspected cases who came into contact of infected children. These children had returened from education tour of NASA, in USA. One of the students was detained at Delhi airport while others had reached their home in Jalandhar. They will be treated in Jalandhar Civil Hospital. Two suspected cases have also been detected in Amritsar.
Badal in the meantime, has directred the Chief Secretary to gear up the medical machinery in the government medical colleges and hospitals to fully equip them for an effective treatment of the suspected patients with the symptoms of swine flu.
An official spokesman of the Punjab government said that elaborate arrangements had been made in all the civil hospitals at district headquarter where round the clock control rooms to be supervised by District Health Officers (DHOs) had been made functional. The telephone and mobile numbers of the control rooms and DHOs would be published in the prominent newspapers by the Directorate of Health Services and family welfare to enable the people to contact them in case of any emergency.
According to the spokesman, 12 suspected patients with symptoms of cough, cold and sour throat had been detected so far in the state with one confirmed case of swine flue that had been tested positive and was under treatment in Delhi. Of these 9 patients had been under treatment at civil hospital Jalandhar and 2 other suspected patients were under treatment in Guru Nanak Dev Hospital Amritsar. He further said that sufficient numbers of the sample bottles had been provided in civil hospital Jalandhar and Amritsar and were being also provided in all the district civil hospitals for the collection of samples. Besides 2500 capsules of tami-flu had been supplied for the patients in Amritsar and Jalandhar hospitals.
As many as 2500 surgical masks for the patients besides adequate number of such masks for the use of 30 doctors and 18 para-medics had been provided in these two hospitals.
On the direction of the Chief Minister, Principal Secretary Health & Family Welfare A.S.Talwar today visited the civil hospital Jalandhar and Amritsar and reviewed the suspected cases with symptoms of swine flu during a series of meetings with civil surgeons, medical superintendents and the deputy commissioners and asked them to take immediate remedial steps to check the outbreak of swine flu.
Talwar also directed all the Civil Surgeons to regularly monitor the sensitive situation in their respective districts. He also advised them to send special teams of doctors to the villages and hold medical camps at the district level thereby involving NGOs to bring awareness amongst the people about the cause and preventive cure of the swine flu in order to avoid any sort of panic amongst the masses.
