Mumbai: As swine flu silently continues to claim lives this year, an analysis of 443 of the 445 deaths in the State due to the virus has shown that 221 victims were in the 21-50 years age group. This is followed by 106 deaths of people aged 51-60 years and 56 aged above 61.
Dr Satish Pawar, who heads the State Directorate of Health Services, said the analysis shows many were started on Oseltamivir on the fifth and sixth days. “The protocol is to start medication within 48 hours of observing symptoms. We have sent a circular to all doctors asking them to put a symptomatic patient on Oseltamivir without waiting for test results, but that’s clearly not happening.”
Citing an example, he said a senior bureaucrat’s daughter exhibited classic H1N1 symptoms: sore throat and high-grade fever. The doctor from a well-known hospital in south Mumbai sent her swab for testing and waited for four days till the report confirmed swine flu before putting her on Oseltamivir. “Fortunately, the young woman recovered. If this had happened to a patient with an underlying co-morbid condition or severely compromised immunity for some reason, it would have definitely been fatal,” Dr. Pawar said.
Dr. Hemant Gupta of Bombay Hospital said 90% of patients he has treated had been on self-medication for at least two or three days. “People are still casual about the disease. What’s worse, those who are immunocompromised and are already on medication are even more causal. For them, sporadic bouts of fever and sore throat are common. This is where patients are going wrong.”
