With death of 50-year-old Sarojini Devi on Wednesday, the number of deaths due to Swine flu in state capital this season mounted to four. However the district health department still appears to be in deep slumber on the dreaded disease which is threatening to assume epidemic proportions in the state of Punjab.
The woman, a resident of Bankhadi in Rishikesh was undergoing treatment at Himalayan Institute Hospital Trust (HIHT), Jollygrant. Confirming the death the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of Dehradun, Dr S P Agarwal said that the sample of the woman was found positive for the disease on February 26. The number of positive cases of Swine flu in the district has mounted to 13 which include four deaths.
Meanwhile the death toll in state of Punjab due to the disease has risen to 61.
The high death toll in a state from where large number of people visits the state daily should be a reason for the authorities to sit up and take preventive action but the callousness of the authorities on the Swine flu front could be understood from the fact that sample of only one suspected case of the disease was taken in last week. Instead of taking preventive measure the authorities are regularly harping on about the less virulent nature of swine flu virus this year. They are of the view that the virus this time is milder one and there is no major cause of worry.
In associated hospital of Doon Medical College (DMC) here which the biggest hospital of the state, the administration has merely pasted a slip ‘Swine Flu ward’ on the closed doors of two dingy rooms which are reportedly filled with spare furniture.
The sleep of the health department is shocking as the state government had declared an alert on the disease. The CMO of Dehradun, Dr Agarwal however claimed that the department is on alert mode.
He said that all the hospitals have been ordered to setup an isolation ward for swine flu patients. “ A meeting with the all the hospitals was recently taken and they were all told to take measures for the disease. We have sufficient stock of medicines (Tamiflu), N 95 masks and triple layer masks,’’ he claimed.
Swine flu is a viral diseases, its virus is also called H1 N1 virus 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.