Twenty die of swine flu in past ten days

JAIPUR: Twenty persons have died while 180 persons tested positive for swine flu in the state in 10 days (October 3 to October 13).
At a time when the health department is tackling emerging challenge of Zika in Jaipur, the state has witnessed a spurt in swine flu cases.
According to the National Centre for Disease Control's (NCDC) latest report, 1,912 persons were tested positive for swine flu while 191 died of it till October 13 this year.However, health department's reports show that till October 3, there were 1,732 persons diagnosed with swine flu and 171 died of the disease. In Baran district, two persons have died of swine flu on Monday and Tuesday. Baran district reported its 16th swine flu death of the year when a 60-year-old patient died while undergoing treatment at a hospital in Kota on Tuesday. A 22-year-old person, resident of Baran district died on Monday. However, health department claimed that both patients were categorised as high risk. The 60-year-old person had a lungs disorder, while 22-year-old person was a tuberculosis patient.
However, health department appealed to the people not to panic. A meeting headed by additional chief secretary (health) Veenu Gupta was held on seasonal diseases on Wednesday. She said that the department provides free medicines for treatment of swine flu from the government-run hospitals.
She said that they have set up control rooms in each district. Also, directions have been issued to all the health officers in each district to take immediate action if a swine flu case is reported in their areas for conducting activities to pregnant spread of the disease. With the spurt in swine flu cases, the health department has directed district hospitals and hospitals attached to government-run medical colleges to collect samples of suspected swine flu cases for testing.
Gupta said medicines used for swine flu are available upto the level of primary health centres. Also, directions have been issued to health officers for conducting survey of 50 houses in neighbourhood of swine flu patients to find if other persons are having swine flu symptoms.