Telangana govt presses the panic button HYDERABAD: After spending a hectic day marked by reviews and an emergency meeting of his Cabinet on the alarming increase of swine flu cases in the state, Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Wednesday evening declared that the HINI is a third class virus and the situation is totally under control. At the media briefing after the emergency Cabinet meeting, Chandrasekhar Rao informed that so far 19 people had died of HINI in the state this winter, and admitted that the governments response in containing the disease was not up to the mark. Responding to a question on whether the government effectively monitored each swine flu case and took precautions to prevent its spread, the chief minister said: in some places it was done. When asked why it was not strictly done in all the cases, he did not have a clear response and merely replied: that is how it was. When pressed on the issue, Chandrasekhar Rao said that instead of pinning down the government and finding faults, it is time to spread the message on hygiene and steps to be taken to prevent contracting the disease. So far the government lacked an integrated approach in containing the disease, he admitted. Isolation wards have been set up now in the government hospitals in the city and also in the area and district hospitals across the state, the chief minister said. Private hospitals too have been asked to create isolation wards to deal with the cases, he said. From now on, a daily media briefing would be held on the swine flu situation, the CM informed. The chief minister requested people not to panic and visit a doctor if they have severe cold and cough coupled with body aches to rule out swine flu. If diagnosed with the disease, they should go to a government hospital instead of a private one as the government has stocks of Tamiflu tablets which may not be available at private hospitals. We have 16,000 tablets at all government hospitals and have requested for another 40,000 to 50,000 from the Centre. We have also requested for 10,000 bottles of the syrup form of the medicine, he said. Admitting that he had panicked in the morning after reading news reports about the spike in swine flu cases, Rao said that following several reviews throughout the day with doctors, health department officials and representatives of corporate hospitals, he felt confident that the situation could be brought under control. I thought this was an instance of the media reporting news they could access, and that swine flu is something that comes and goes, the chief minister said. He recalled that after the meeting with representatives of corporate hospitals during the day, some of them even joked that he was taking the issue too seriously. Some representatives joked why take it so seriously? Chandrasekhar Rao told the media. In a bid to show that there was no panic any longer, he tried to make light of the situation by stating that the swine flu is caused by a third class virus. But the chief minister did appear to take the matter serious enough in the morning by placing a call to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and sending an SOS for help in containing swine flu spread. Thanking him for the instant response of assistance by way of sending medicines for the disease and a three-member team of experts to review the situation in the state on Thursday, the chief minister said that he had also spoken to Union health minister J P Nadda and briefed him about the situation in the state and sought assistance. Telangana health secretary Suresh Chanda was sent to Delhi to brief Nadda. We have appointed a senior IAS officer as nodal officer in each district to monitor the disease who will report to the chief secretary, who will then brief me every day, Chandrasekhar Rao said. KCRs Prescription Go to govt hospital if tested positive, we have Tamiflu Isolation wards in all major govt hospitals in state, private hospitals requested to set up the same Civic bodies will sanitize homes of swine flu patients 108 ambulances to be sanitized after transporting swine flu patients; free transport from districts to city if patient is serious Blood tests at IPM and Fever Hospital in city, Centre asked for more testing equipment for districts Swine flu included under Aarogyasri
Posted on: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 19:40:19 +0000
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