The Hindu : National : A(H1N1) cases touch 104, surveillance up

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Tuesday, Jun 30, 2009
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A(H1N1) cases touch 104, surveillance up

Aarti Dhar

NEW DELHI: With the number of A (H1N1) influenza cases touching 104, the Centre on Monday strengthened surveillance across the country.

Sixteen additional laboratories for testing swine flu will become functional on July 1, four thermal scanners will be installed shortly and inbound passengers will be asked to fill a voluntary health screening form on board.

Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad told journalists here that announcements would be made on flights appealing to passengers to come forward for a check-up at the airports in case of any flu-like symptoms.

After receiving 50,000 bottles of Tamiflu for children, donated by Hetero Drugs, Mr. Azad said the government had procured the seed for manufacturing the A (H1N1) vaccine from the World Health Organisation and had given “test licences” to manufacture it to three companies — Serum Institute, Panacea Biotech and Bharat Biotech.

Reassuring the people that the situation was well under control, Mr. Azad said 61 of the 104 positive cases had been discharged after treatment. He added that 95 patients had “imported” the influenza and transmission within the country was confined to families of those affected.

The Minister said four thermal scanners that would help detect people with high temperatures, would arrive shortly in India. He pointed out that 25 lakh passengers had been screened so far at 22 international airports, checkpoints and ports.

“Sixteen laboratories will become functional with infrastructure, equipment and manpower from July 1. That will help in early detection. Two hundred ventilators have been procured that would be shortly sent to [the] Central and State government hospitals. The State Rapid Response Teams have been trained by the National Rapid Response Team and I have written to the Chief Ministers and the Health Ministers to train similar teams at the district levels also,” Mr. Azad said.

He said the Civil Aviation Ministry had been asked to issue voluntary disclosure forms on board and also make arrangements for special announcements on the flights to seek passengers’ cooperation in identifying suspects.

He said he had also received a reply from External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna saying he had asked the Indian missions abroad to impress upon their governments to insist on a screening of outbound passengers.

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