Medical and Health officials in Chittoor district are fully geared up to treat swine flu cases, following detection of one case and constant flow of patients to hospitals with viral fever.
District Medical and Health Officer (DMHO) Dr. K. Koteswari said all government hospitals in the district had been instructed to keep isolation wards ready and monitor the flow of patients with viral fever. “After a swine flu case was detected in Punganur mandal, an emergency meeting was conducted where medical officers were instructed to keep tamiflu tablets and syrup ready. We have also kept stocks of masks ready for emergency purposes,” she added.
Dr. Koteswari said medical officers would create awareness among pregnant women, old people and children about the ways swine flu spreads, as they formed the vulnerable group.
Rashtriya Bala Swastha Karyakram (RBSK) District Officer Dr. Annareddy Sudarsan and Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) District Officer Dr. Ravindra Reddy said awareness drive on ‘hand-washing’ would be taken up at all government schools in the district, as the practice was the most effective preventive methodology against spread of swine flu virus. Pamphlets on hand-wash module have been distributed in all villages by paramedical staff, they added.