Swine Flu situation grim in India : death toll crosses 620
18 Feb, New Delhi
Swine flu deaths continued unabated as the toll crossed 620 even as the country’s drug authority asked chemists to stock Tamiflu drug but not sell it without prescription.
The number of people affected by the flu is 9311 this year so far, much more than past few years.
Health Minister J P Nadda chaired a high-level review meeting in New Delhi Tuesday to take stock of the crisis as officials assessed reports from states and measures to deal with the infectious disease.
Meanwhile, seventy one fresh cases of swine flu were reported in Delhi Tuesday . With this, the total number of cases of the disease has gone up to 1679 so far this year in the city.
Delhi government Health officer Dr. Charan Singh said that adequate stock of the medicines is available and all arrangements are in place at 25 designated hospitals in the city for the treatment of the swine flu. He also clarified that there is no shortage of tamiflu medicines in Delhi.
In Gujarat, with five more swine flu deaths reported yesterday, the toll has gone upto 155 since January.
Director General of Health Services Dr Jagdish Prasad said that more licenses will be granted to chemist shops to ensure availabilities of medicine of swine flu.
Talking to reporters in Ahmedabad, State Health Minister Nitin Patel claimed that the state administration has taken proper steps and isolation wards dedicated to swine flu patients have already been set up in each and every district headquarters.
Swine flu has claimed 72 lives in Maharashtra this year. Nagpur has reported maximum number of 186 H1N1 patients, followed by Mumbai with 152 cases and Pune with 132 cases.
Meanwhile , the death toll due to swine flu rose to 187 in Rajasthan with seven more casualties reported Tuesday .
Health minister Rajendra Rathore asked people to seek medical advice at the first signs of flu symptoms. He said that the high number of deaths was due to the fact that people were reporting at hospitals at an advanced stage of the flu. According to health department, over 8244 samples were tested out of which 3302 were found H1N1 positive this year.