CHENNAI: The number of confirmed swine flu (AH1N1) cases in the State has risen to 29, with 14 of them hailing from Chennai. According to State Minister for Health and Family Welfare Dr V S Vijay, all the affected, barring the one dead, were responding well to treatment. Vijay also added that there was no cause for panic as the strain of the virus had evolved in such a manner that it was merely “one step higher than normal influenza”.Compared to the strain that led to a massive number of swine flu cases and deaths in 2009-10, this strain was much more manageable, he assured. He also announced that every district headquarter hospital and major Government hospitals in the State would have a 20-bed swine flu ward in case of emergency outbreaks. “This is no where close to an epidemic,” he reiterated.Principal Health Secretary Girija Vaidyanathan confirmed that the State was speeding up the process of purchasing 55 lakh immunisation shots for swine flu at a cost of `55 lakh. “This is not an emergency allocation but part of the regular budget,” she said. “All the medicines will be disseminated only to areas that are seen to have the disease,” added Dr Vijay. For now, Coimbatore, Cuddalore and Chennai have been identified as high risk areas.Get Reliable Tests DoneThe Minister also said that concerned citizens who have flu symptoms needed to watch where they get themselves tested. “You should not go to any lab and get yourself tested for swine flu. There are labs that will fleece you anywhere between `2,000-3,000 for a test that ought to cost only around `300. Secondly, many of them will give false positives or negatives, as they don’t have the proper testing apparatus,” cautioned Vijay.“All major government hospitals and 12 private labs that are accredited by the government are safe and will be able to give accurate results,” he said. Vijay added that soon there would be discussions with private labs to fix a nominal rate and ensure proper testing.
Comments
0 comment