The district health authorities are worried over the absence of guidelines that the health department was supposed to issue to all districts across the state even as the first death due to swine flu was reported in Ludhiana on Saturday.
Guidelines along with medicines to cure the disease are provided by the health department every year to the district authorities ahead of the outbreak of swine flu during winters in the city. A large number of patients are affected due to it every year.
However, due to the changing pattern of the disease this year, experts had warned the health authorities that the disease could take residents in its clutches even before the start of winters. In many states, including Maharashtra, many deaths were also reported due to swine flu even last month.
The health department officials had planned a meeting with the state authorities at Chandigarh on October 15 but the meeting could not take place. Even when the first dengue death was reported on Saturday at the Dayanand Medical College and Hospital (DMCH), no meeting has been planned so far.
The health department was now in a tizzy as to how to issue guidelines to different departments, including the railways where gathering of a large number of people takes place daily, when it doesn’t have the guidelines itself. Railway stations across the country are on an alert during the outbreak of swine flu as most of the people from other states travel through rails increasing the chances of carrying the disease to other places.
{{/usCountry}}The health department was now in a tizzy as to how to issue guidelines to different departments, including the railways where gathering of a large number of people takes place daily, when it doesn’t have the guidelines itself. Railway stations across the country are on an alert during the outbreak of swine flu as most of the people from other states travel through rails increasing the chances of carrying the disease to other places.
{{/usCountry}}The health department has advised to put on masks at public gathering and crowded places to avoid the spread of infection.
District epidemiologist Dr Ramesh Bhagat said so far, no guidelines have been received by the district authorities regarding control on swine flu. “We would soon hold a meeting with the state health department to get these guidelines,” said Dr Ramesh.