Thaindian News

Panaji, July 31 (IANS) Even as the number of swine flu cases in Goa reached six, the state health department’s mechanism to combat swine flu was thrown into turmoil Friday after the nodal officer for swine flu Rajendra Tamba declared he had “no funds to carry out any activity related to swine flu”.
In an official press note issued by the department of information and publicity Friday, Tamba from the directorate of health services (DHS) blamed the apathy of the state government for his inability to attend to any more swine flu cases.

“This is the last daily bulletin from Tamba. He has appealed to the people of Goa not to contact him for any information or enquiry about swine flu, since he has no funds to carry out any activity related to swine flu,” the official press release signed by Tamba July 31 says.

The release accompanies the daily status report bulletin on H1N1 influenza issued to media houses by the state department of information and publicity every day.

“The expenses so far were made from funds under the Integrated Disease Surveillance Project (IDSP) received from the government of India, which are now exhausted… No money has been received from the state government despite repeated requests. The amount asked for was Rs.10 lakh,” Tamba said adding that now there was no money to pay even the salaries of the 19 contract staffers working under IDSP project as the money was utilized for swine flu activities.

On July 19, Tamba had also accused the DHS of non-cooperation regarding swine flu- related activities, alleging that throat swab samples for urgent testing were being sent by public transport to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune.

Speaking to IANS, state chief secretary Sanjiv Srivastava said that such a press release was not expected of a senior government official.

“Such issues need to be sorted out. I have called for a meeting with the director of the state health services to handle the problem. We will find a way out,” Srivastava said.

Earlier Friday, a 26-year-old man who arrived in Goa from the US via Hong Kong and Mumbai July 28, has been admitted to the quarantine facility at the Goa Medical College near Panaji after he reported of swine flu-like symptoms.

His throat swab sample has been sent to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases in Delhi and the results will be available in two days.