The report of swab sample of Tharali MlA Magan lal Shah which confirmed presence of dreaded H1 N1 shocked the health department which was complacent on the disease.

The department had reported no case of the disease in last two months and death of the BJP MlA from the disease has jolted the department into action. The health authorities rushed a consignment of Tamiflu medicines and masks to Karanprayag in Chamoli district where Shah lived. The Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of Dehradun Dr Y S Thapliyal said that detection of swine flu during this time of the year is somewhat strange as normally the virus become less active with increase in temperature. The disease resulted in loss of 20 lives in different parts of the State last year.

Meanwhile, questions are again being raised on delay in reporting of the disease. “In case of Magan lal Shah also the report of the swab sample arrived from Delhi after his death. It is very unfortunate that the State Government has not set up any laboratory in the State where the samples of swine flu can be tested,’’ said one observer.

It is worth mentioning here that the advisor health services to the State Chief Minister, Dr Naveen Baluni had declared in August last year that the swine flu lab would be set up in Government Doon Medical College hospital. The declaration is yet to see the light of the day. What is more intriguing that the lab of the Srinagar medical college has all the equipments and facilities of swine flu lab but it is not operational.

At present, the samples of suspected patients of the disease are sent to National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), New Delhi due to which the arrival of reports is delayed. The delay in arrival of reports of swine flu tests from Delhi is causing problems to the health department officials, doctors treating these patients and their anxious family members. It is learnt that the NCDC is so packed up with samples of suspected patients these days that the process of tests and sending the reports is taking unusually more time. The delay in arrival of reports of these cases has resulted in a situation where either the patients dies or gets recuperated from the disease by the time reports arrives.

Swine flu is a viral disease, its virus is also called H1 N1 and its genetic analysis has shown that it has originated from the animals specially pigs hence it is called Swine flu. The virus spreads from person to person similar to that of seasonal influenza.

The 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 require no test or medication. The patients of 'B' category are characterized by high fever and the patient need isolation and should be administered Oseltamivir (Tami flu) medicine. The medical experts are of the view 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.