H1N1: hospitals told to use dist-level facilities

Divisional Commissioner Dilip Band said the meeting took stock of the swine flu situation in Pune and surrounding areas. Pune Municipal Commissioner Mahesh Zagade and District Collector Chandrakant Dalvi also attended the news conference.

According to Zagade,a patient with symptoms of swine flu must make it a point to report to a screening centre and avail himself of testing and treatment facilities.

Till date,private hospitals from various parts of the district as also civil hospitals from other districts have been sending patients to Sassoon Hospital for treatment. “Facilities are available at the civic hospitals in each district and unless there are major complications,doctors should ensure that the patient is treated at the district level,” Dalvi said.

Select chemists — 28 wholesalers and retailers — are now selling Tamiflu drugs in the city. The same is available free of cost at government centres and hospitals,Zagade said. People are now recovering fast from the flu due to early intervention,the officials pointed out.

On Tuesday,14 new cases were detected and these included three school students and a college student. There were no deaths reported while new schools — Kendriya Vidyalaya,Southern Command,Indira International School at Wakad and Abhishek Vidyalaya,Shahunagar,Pimpri — apart from BJS College at Wagholi reported infections. Till now,55 schools and 16 colleges have had swine flu cases.