As the swine flu cases are increasing day by day, the Telangana government is still clueless as how to contain the growing epidemic in the state.
According to official reports, so far there have been 3469 flu cases reported in all the government and private hospitals across the state in a span of just 2 months. Of which 1128 cases are found to be positive.
The latest report of Medical Health and Family Welfare department in Telangana has reported almost 50 deaths due to swine flu up till 18th February 2015.
The main reason for severe spread of H1N1 virus in Telangana is attributed to drastic and unanticipated chilled and windy climatic changes in the region. “The cold wave from the Northern region is the main reason for the spread of this disease in Telangana. Moreover the flu strain found in TS is different from that of the original known strain. Because of this, the usual flu prescriptions have failed to contain the virus. We agree that our initial efforts to contain flu was not that serious, but again we realised the situation is serious and had taken all the necessary steps to see that it does not spread further in the state. All the district hospitals, PHC and CHCs in the state have been put on high alert and orders have been issued to keep extra stocks of flu medicine and testing equipment to meet any kind of adversity at the hospitals in the state,” says a senior official in the Healthcare department.
Earlier, last month the Telangana Chief Minister, K. Chandrasekhar Rao, had sacked the then Health Minister Dr. T. Rajaiah and 3 top officials for not taking adequate steps to contain the spread of flu in the initial stages. Because of lackadaisical and insensitive attitude of the senior officials and the health ministry, the flu has spread to more regions in the state and has been affecting more people.
As per latest by the government, 124 people reported positive for swine flu on 17th February alone, though the officials claim that the flu cases are slowly decreasing during the past one week, on an average 25 cases are reported daily. The government could have taken up high level awareness campaigns and should have sensitised the public on a larger scale to contain its spread in the initial stages. But nothing of that sort had happened because of which more and more cases are reported at the hospitals in the state. The authorities have also failed to distribute preventive flu medicines to the public. This tells that the state government and the health department is still clue less to contain the spread of flu in the state.
However citizens are advised to take precautions such as reporting to the hospital on the first symptoms of swine flu like high fever, sneezing cough and body pains. Citizens are also advised to avoid going to crowded places, clean their hands as frequently as possible, avoid hand shaking and cover nose and mouth while sneezing and cough.