PHOTO: AFP
The Punjab health department on Monday issued health alert for Rawalpindi following the death of four swine flu patients.
Sources in the district health department told The Express Tribune that five new suspected swine flu patients have been admitted to the Holy Family Hospital (HFH). Of them, two have been tested positive. They are being treated at the hospital’s infectious diseases ward, the sources said.
No swine flu case reported in Islamabad
Four suspected swine flu patients have died in Rawalpindi since 6 January.
Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has directed the provincial cabinet committee and health authorities to take all possible measures to contain the swine flu virus at the earliest.
Vigorous awareness campaign against the swine flu should be launched besides ensuring availability of medicines for treatment of suspected patients, the chief minister directed.
Sharif also asked the committee to monitor treatment facilitates in hospitals across the province including Rawalpindi.
He said that daily reports should be submitted regarding availability of medical facilities in different hospitals.
The chief minister said that awareness should be spread among the masses regarding protection from the swine flu virus.
Shahbaz warned health officials that no laxity will be tolerated in the treatment of patients.
Medical Superintendent Dr Raja Shafique Sarwar said that major public hospitals had already been put on high alert following the death of four patients in Rawalpindi.
He said that an isolation ward had been set up in the hospital for treating suspected flu patients. Two patients are currently being treated in the hospital, he added.
Dr Sarwar said that a large number of patients were coming to the hospital on a daily basis and doctors in the emergency ward were attending to them vigilantly. He said that blood samples of five acute flu patients had been sent to the National Institute of Health (NIH) in Islamabad for confirmation of the virus.
Five swine flu cases reported so far in 2016
He said that the hospital was expecting to receive the test results on Tuesday (today).
Thermal scanner at airport
Meanwhile, an official of the Civil Aviation Authority said that the government was yet to install thermal scanners at the Benazir Bhutto airport for screening of passengers coming from other countries, who might be potential carriers of the virus.
The official said that installation of thermal scanners have become all the more necessary at the airport in the wake of deaths related to swine flu in Rawalpini.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 19th, 2016.
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