The health officials of the district have got some reasons to worry as reports of 10 cases of swine flu were tested positive on Monday. The number of swine flu affected people in the district has now jumped to 45. The department also collected samples of eight suspected patients and dispatched them to National Centre of Disease Control (NCDC) for confirmation of swine flu.
However, the sample of the woman who died at CMI hospital on Wednesday proved negative. The private hospital on the basis of report of a renowned pathology lab had claimed that the woman (Bharti Yadav) died from swine flu. The head of Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP), Dr Madan Bonal told The Pioneer that reports of 23 samples from NCDC arrived on Monday.
He informed that the department is in the process of tracking the status of the patients who were reported positive for the disease. Dr Bonal claimed that most of these patients have recovered and were discharged from the hospitals. He informed that department collected eight samples of suspected patients on Monday which included four from Himalayan Institute Hospital Trust (HIHT), two from CMI and one each from Mahant Indiresh hospital and Doon hospital.
Dehradun district with three deaths, 45 confirmed and 209 suspected patients is the most swine flu affected district in the State. Swine flu has assumed epidemic proportions in the States like Gujarat and Rajasthan with deaths of 382 and 375 people respectively till Sunday. In view of large number of samples from these States, the NCDC is taking unduly long time for reporting of samples of suspected patients from Uttarakhand. A health department official said the Government should set up the laboratory facility for swine flu in the State so that the time wasted in sending the samples to Delhi is saved.