E-Paper
City ill-equipped to tackle bird flu
EVEN THOUGH the health officials have refused to make any comments on whether the city will be able to deal with any situation arising out of bird flu (avian influenza), many doctors feel that in case the disease hits the city, it will be very difficult for them to tackle the menace. However, some officials, on condition of anonymity, said, ?There is no system to know whether a patient was suffering from seasonal cough and cold or bird flu.? They said that the reagent-salt used to test a patient was also not available in the city.
Don’t panic, say doctors; GSVM to organise meet
EVEN THOUGH the health officials have refused to make any comments on whether the city will be able to deal with any situation arising out of bird flu (avian influenza), many doctors feel that in case the disease hits the city, it will be very difficult for them to tackle the menace.
However, some officials, on condition of anonymity, said, “There is no system to know whether a patient was suffering from seasonal cough and cold or bird flu.” They said that the reagent-salt used to test a patient was also not available in the city.
Commenting on the situation Dr JP Mehrotra, District Immunisation Officer, said, “There is no specific treatment for bird flu and doctors normally treat a patient with general drugs given to any patient suffering from viral infection.” He also said, “Those who are non-vegetarian or those who consume chicken are more vulnerable to the disease than a vegetarian.”
Keeping this in mind, the Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi Memorial Medical College has decided to organise a seminar to raise awareness about Bird Flu. The health officials are also not aware of the medicines to be used to treat any patient inflicted with bird flu. However, some senior doctors feel that the medicine, which is used to treat the patients suffering from bird flu, is manufactured by a multi-national company. “The medicine, which is very costly, is not easily available in the city,” they said. However, a majority of senior doctors admitted that there was no facility to treat a couple of patients suffering from avian influenza. “Besides, there is neither any serology test facility nor there is any trained microbiologist to diagnose the infected person,” they said.
A medical officer, on condition of anonymity, said, “It’s true that the health department is ill-equipped to check the bird flu virus but we are trying to convey the message to the people that there is no need to panic as no bird flu case has been reported in the city so far.” Dr SK Katiyar, principal GSVM medical college said, “In an effort to raise awareness among the people and to teach doctors how to handle any emergency situation, the medical college will organise a seminar on bird flu on February 25.”
He also said that the people should no panic and assured that all measures would be taken to deal with any situation with the help of the health department.
