Thaindian News

New Delhi, Aug 7 (IANS) As panic gripped people in the metros over swine flu and a record 96 new cases came up, the Indian government Friday assured that it was equipped to tackle the virus that has killed one and infected over 700 people so far in the country.
The government also announced a slew of steps to tackle the fast-spreading flu, including decentralising the drug supply and allowing accredited private laboratories to conduct the tests.

Union Health Secretary Naresh Dayal said the government is decentralising the availability of the Tamiflu drug in the country so that there is no paucity and is ready to allow accredited private laboratories to conduct the test to detect the virus provided they have the facilities.

“A lot of panic has been created in the last two days, especially since the death of the girl in Pune. There is no cause for people to go into panic mode,” Dayal told a press conference here.

Rida Shaikh, 14, died in Pune Monday of swine flu, and health officials blamed the death to “delayed treatment”.

Meanwhile, the number of swine flu cases spiked sharply as 96 fresh cases were reported Friday, taking the total to 712 so far. Among those who tested positive are four doctors, including three in the national capital.

“The virus is relatively a less virulent strain of the flu. In fact, it is less virulent than the seasonal flu, which causes more deaths than this (swine flu) causes,” Dayal added.

But he said they are more worried about this virus because there is no vaccine. “We do not have a vaccine for it. We have treatment for it, which is Tamiflu. It is a curable disease, not an incurable one,” he said.

“We have plenty of Tamiflu to treat people and we are decentralising the supply further to the district level by providing them a stockpile for 1,000 persons at any point of time,” he added.

He said a city with a population of over one million plus would get 1,000 Tamiflu tablets, and cities that reported more cases like Delhi, Pune, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Bangalore would get 10,000 Tamiflu tablets.

“The government stock will be credited with 72 lakh Tamiflu medicines and the government will place a fresh order to replenish its level to 10 million,” Dayal said.

Dayal urged that only those exhibiting the actual symptoms - fever, sore throat, runny nose, nausea - should come forward for the tests as the cost of each test for negative cases is Rs.5,000, and Rs.10,000 for positive ones.

He said: “We have never stopped private laboratories from conducting the tests. We are considering allowing those private laboratories which have the facilities to do the tests. We are going to accreditise private labs based on their capacity to test H1N1 virus.”

But if found positive, a patient will have to go only to a designated government facility for treatment, he stressed.

The health secretary has also written to all the chief secretaries of the states to identify more hospitals for testing and sample collection to avoid a rush of people like that seen on Sunday in Pune where hundreds turned up for tests.

He has also asked the states to identify private hospitals that can handle these cases, and to start a helpline at the state level.

Dayal said there was no need to put restrictions on travel within the country.

“We don’t think any restriction on travel is necessary. But people travelling in closed atmosphere like planes should wear a mask to avoid spreading the virus,” he said referring to the Tamil Nadu government’s step of asking people not to travel to Maharashtra which has seen a sharp rise in flu cases.

He said a meeting of state health authorities has been called Saturday during which they would take up the matter with the Tamil Nadu health representatives.

Elaborating on the virus, he said: “This virus attacks mainly people who are younger. Our analysis has shown that the largest number of patients are in the age group of 10 to 14,” and added, “People should not panic as India sees more neo-natal deaths.”

He said the country has so far reported 615 influenza A cases, of which 129 people are in the age group 10-14, while 117 are in the age group of 20-29 and 100 in the age group 15-19.

“We have fewer people affected with swine flu as compared to developed countries like the UK, the US, Australia, Japan, Thailand and Singapore,” he added.