Flu deaths mount to 10, Azad asks CMs to take urgent steps

Vadodra/Pune, Aug 11 (PTI) Swine flu deaths continued
unabated with two girls and a 63-year-old woman on Tuesday
succumbing to the deadly virus, taking the countrywide toll to
ten even as the Centre asked the states to take urgent steps
to tackle the pandemic.

Vadodra in west Indian state of Gujarat reported its
first flu victim when a seven-year-old girl, Arya Borde, who
was in a critical condition, died due to the viral disease,
Sir Sayajirao Gaeikwad Hospital Medical Superintendent Atul
Saxena said.

"She was on ventilator support since August 7....The
result of H1N1 test was confirmed on August 8. She became
critical today morning and passed away at 12.30 hours,"
Principal Secretary, Health, Ravi Saxena said.

In Pune, the worst hit city in Maharashtra, 13-year-
old Shruti Gawade, a student of Ahilyadevi school, died due to
the virus infection. She had been kept on ventilator since
August 7 at government-owned Sassoon hospital where she was
brought from a private hospital in a critical condition, said
Pandurang Pawar, Medical Superintendent of Sassoon hospital.

Sayeeda Dorheewala, a 63-year-old woman, died in a
private hospital at Byculla in South Mumbai as a result of
swine flu. The woman, who was from Mumbra in Thane district,
had been hsopitalised with fever in Noor hospital on August
six and had tested positive along with other complications,
according to the Municipal Coporation of greater Mumbai.

With the swine flu deaths on the rise, Union Health
Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has spoken to 22 chief ministers
informing them of the steps being taken by the Centre to
tackle the spread of the disease and the guidelines framed
for allowing private labs and hospital to conduct tests and
treat suspected cases.

A senior Health Ministry official said Azad spoke to
the chief ministers on Monday night impressing upon them the
need to take measures to tackle the spread of the virus.

Azad also held meetings with senior officials of his
Ministry Tuesday morning to take stock of the situation, he
said.

He will hold a meeting with around 35 additional and
joint secretaries in various central ministries before their
visits to state capitals for stepping up efforts to contain
the pandemic.

The move comes two days after Prime Minister of India
Manmohan Singh asked Azad to augment the response mechanism in
the wake of the rapid spread of the disease, which has claimed
10 lives so far.

With Tuesday's deaths, a total of five persons have
died in Pune, two in Mumbai and one each in Ahmedabad, Vadodra
and Chennai.

Giving an update on the situation in Pune, a senior
doctor of the Sassoon hospital said nine swine flu patients
were currently admitted in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) out
of which six were on ventilator. The condition of four is
"very critical" and two is "relatively critical," he said.

"We have enough stockpiles of Tamilflu (anti-flu
drug)," he said, noting that the Sassoon hospital was treating
patients not only from Pune but also several neighbouring
areas.

As many as 95 fresh cases--half of them from Pune--were
reported across the country on Monday, taking the total of
those affected to 960. PTI Team
SDE
NNNN




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