1 death later, Govt wakes up to swine flu danger

New Delhi/Pune: Jolted by the death of 14-year-old Pune girl Rida Sheikh, Indian health authorities on Tuesday went into a tizzy and issued a string of guidelines to prevent a repeat of the country's first swine flu death.

India has reported 558 swine flu cases, of which 470 have been discharged from hospitals.

With experts and doctors warning that the monsoon and winter months could bring more cases of the flu, the Health Ministry issued fresh guidelines where it stressed on the need to cut panic.

The Government also emphasised that only severe cases of the H1N1 will need to be quarantined. Following is a summary of the guidelines:

• Cases with mild symptoms need not be quarantined at a hospital anymore
• Only severe cases of H1N1 will be kept in an isolation ward
• Decision to quarantine any patient will rest with the doctor of the Government hospital
• Suspected cases coming from outside of India will have to be quarantined
• The Government also plans to include private hospitals to work in conjunction with the government laboratories.
Issuing the revised guidelines, Vineet Chawdhry, joint secretary in the central health ministry, said clinical assessment would be carried out on patients only at identified government hospitals. "We want to address the apprehension and concerns of the people and don't want a repeat (of the Pune incident)," he told reporters in New Delhi. But there's no change in government's Tami flu policy. Despite a death, the Government doesn't want to sell Tamil flu from retail outlets. “If the patient opts for home isolation, he will be given strict guidelines to be adhered by the entire household. He will have to provide full contact details and the contacts would be provided with preventive treatment,” he said. Chawdhry said the revised guidelines followed fears that people would be kept in isolation wards in hospitals for treatment. He added that home quarantine would be allowed only if government doctors give the go ahead. "In case the patient decides for home isolation, he or she would be provided with detailed guidelines to be followed by the entire household," he added. There is no change in the guidelines meant for passengers arriving at airports with flu like symptom. The Central Government plans to call a meeting of major private hospitals and medical practitioners to sensitise them about swine flu. Joint secretary Chawdhry denied any action was being contemplated against the Jehangir Hospital by the central government. "Health is a state matter and it is the state government that can decide the course of action. The Maharashtra government has invoked the Epidemic Diseases Act making it mandatory for people suffering from swine flu to be admitted in designated government facility. The government will share details about the incident with us in next few days," he said.

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