Hyderabad: With swine flu epidemic creating a scare across the country, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has issued clear guidelines for containing the epidemic in the country. A Central team on the request of the Telangana government had visited hospitals. The team found that the epidemic’s intensity was not as deadly this year. But the team had suggested to the government to ensure basic procedures in containing the virus.

How far these basic guidelines are followed at Gandhi Hospital is everyone’s guess given the potential of the epidemic to mutate and take virulent form. This could lead to more challenging task for the Health Department to contain the spread. One of the basics in containment of the virus is isolation of patients. The guidelines insist for isolation facilities. “If dedicated isolation room is not available, then patients can be cohorted in a well-ventilated isolation ward with beds kept one metre apart.” Given the understanding of the infrastructure, it provides solutions to overcome non-availability of isolation rooms.

It is amply clear that the patients with swine flu have to be isolated from other patients. This is to prevent spread of contamination from one patient to another. Patients suspected to have features of swine flu should be isolated until proven negative. But this is not followed in the hospital at all. But, in reality, the swine flu cases are not isolated until they are proven to be confirmed ‘positive’ by lab examination.

The cases are kept along with other patients. Most of these patients are terminally ill and are at high risk of complications and death due to swine flu. So by the time the lab reports are available, the patient might have transmitted the infection to other patients. This was partly rectified after objections from the doctors. Moreover, Gandhi Hospital, which is a closed building is not an ideal place for isolation of such cases.

Here, the ward for isolation of ‘suspect cases’ is located in the second floor of the Emergency Block and the ward for ‘confirmed cases’ is located in the 8th floor of the main block. Hence, the patients have to be transferred from one ward to the other either in the lift or by the ramp, thereby spreading the infection to other patients, visitors and staff.

Swine flu cases on decline in TS: govt

Hyderabad: The Telangana government has claimed that swine flu cases in the state are on the decline. As per the swine flu bulletin issued here on Saturday, of 1581 samples tested from in January, as many as 549 were found to be positive. A total of 27 people with swine flu symptoms and other complications died this year. On Friday alone, 107 samples were tested and of them 26 were found positive. "The number of positive cases reported in the last six days are showing declining trend. The figures are 49, 46, 53, 21, 35 and 26," said the swine flu bulletin.

Source: THI