The Hindu : National : India free from flu, 20,000 passengers screened

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India free from flu, 20,000 passengers screened

Aarti Dhar

NEW DELHI: Assuring people that India was still free from A H1N1 virus, the government on Friday said that over 20,000 passengers who had arrived in the country in the past few days were screened, with none of them showing any symptoms of the flu.

“We have also been able to identify 2,000 passengers who came to India from Mexico and Canada in the past one week and are now in the process of tracking them down,” Joint Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Vineet Chowdhry, told reporters here. As of now, no case had been reported in India and the situation was being monitored, he added.

Comparing India’s preparedness with that of the U.S., Mr. Chowdhry said the government was viewing the situation with considerable concern at the highest level. The decision to decentralise the medical supplies (Oseltamivir and personal protective equipment) was effected with over 2.50 lakh capsules of anti-viral medicine, 18,000 personal protection equipment and over a lakh triple layer surgical masks despatched to the regional offices. This would cut short the lead time in case a suspected cluster was to be contained, he said.

By Saturday morning, all 17 airports would have screening facilities. As of Friday the facility was available at 10 airports where 96 doctors were deployed to man 32 counters. The number of counters at the Delhi airport stood at eight while Trichy had only one.

Further, Mr. Chowdhry said the Ministry had received bids for supplying Oseltamivir, which would be opened shortly. The Department of Pharmaceuticals held consultations with various companies who assured that apart from the 10 million doses of medicine, they would be in a position to supply any number of doses within the next four to six months.

Call to people

The government also asked the people to approach a public health facility for diagnosis and treatment as this anti-viral medicine would be available free of cost only at government dispensaries and hospitals. The medicine was not sold across the counter. Mr. Chowdhry said there was no need to cull pigs or abstain from consuming well-cooked pork. The present virus could be traced to pigs, birds and humans as well.

The Cabinet Secretary will review the preparedness of the States at a meeting here on Monday to be attended by State Chief Secretaries and Health Secretaries.

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