State among the worst hit in country

The outbreak of swine flu in the state has emerged as a serious concern once again with 602 confirmed cases and 70 deaths reported in the last three months from April to June.

The outbreak of swine flu in the state has emerged as a serious concern once again with 602 confirmed cases and 70 deaths reported in the last three months from April to June.

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The state along with Kerala is among the worst affected by the H1N1 virus this year.

State Public Health Minister Suresh Shetty said the health department was aware of the threat and had taken various steps to tackle the outbreak of the disease like setting up 97 isolation wards and 1,497 screening centres in the state.

He was replying to a calling attention motion in the state assembly on Thursday.

Since last year till March, there have been 6,704 swine flu cases with 415 victims who succumbed to the disease.

Shetty said the health department had ramped up its efforts to tackle the outbreak with control rooms and helpline at the state as well as the district levels.

In his written reply to the House, he said the Centre had recently provided the state with 34,300 doses of the swine flu vaccine and they were being administered to health care professionals treating the disease in the state.

The department has also undertaken death audits of swine flu victims with scientists and doctors to analyse the changing trend of the virus and accordingly change method of treatment and preventive measures.

He added that there was also adequate supply of equipment ranging from masks to ventilators across 33 districts.

The testing of the disease is being carried out at Haffkine Institute, Kasturba hospital and National Institute of Virology in Pune.