The Madhya Pradesh Health department has issued directives to all hospitals associated with the Medical colleges in the state to make special arrangements for screening and treating SARS patients.

Amidst the serious measures taken by the Union Health Ministry against SARS, Principal Secretary Health Alka Sirohi and Director Medical Services Dr Ashok Sharma attended a meeting chaired by Union Health Minister Sushma Swaraj at Delhi recently.

Dr Ashok Sharma said that all the medical college hospitals were identified for the treatment of SARS patients besides the district hospital Ujjain, which has also been identified to treat the patients of this disease.

He said that the doctors and paramedical staff would be distributed N-95 masks under the preventive measures. The medical college hospitals have been directed to keep the isolation bed for the SARS patients in order to prevent it from spreading to other patients.

The blood samples of SARS patients would be sent for confirmation of the disease to the National Virology Laboratory (NVL), Pune and National Institute of Communicative Diseases (NICD), Delhi.

Dr Sharma said that no carelessness in treating the SARS patients or taking preventive measures would be borne. The state government would not hesitate to take any type of preventive measures.