KL Report
SRINAGAR
State run Medical College in Srinagar is in the process of readying an isolation ward and adequate testing laboratory facilities in the Chest Disease Hospital, informed sources said. This, once ready, will help reduce the
pressure on the SKIMS which, by now, continues to be the only address for testing and managing H1N1 infection.
Informed sources said the process for setting up the facility stands initiated and may take some time. Officials feel the CD hospital over Dlagate heights is the adequate spot for such a facility where one ward can be upgraded into a isolation spot with adequate testing facilities attached to it.
“We have already set up the isolate ward,” Dr Rafiq A Pampori, principal GMC said. “The laboratory may take three weeks and the ICU must get ready by the next week”. He said they are comfortably placed in setting up the facility as far as resource requirement is concerned. “For drugs and medicines we have out up a proposal and will be okayed,” he said.
Flanked by Director Health Dr Saleem ur Rehman, Director SKIMS Dr Showkat Zargar addressed a news conference in his Soura office confirmed two deaths. He said of the 275 tests carried out by the hospital, 113 were influenza A and 71 H1NI positive cases.
Appealing media for “responsible reporting” and people to avoid panic, Dr Zargar said SKIMS has all necessary arrangements in place to meet the challenge, if any.
Hospital sources informed Kashmir Life that SKIMS has improved its H1N1 management overnight. Now the staffers managing the testing facility is better protected – compared to earlier situation, and access to the testing facility is regulated adequately. There are still some issues to be tackled which are in process, sources said.
Kashmir Life had reported last night that four H1N1 deaths have taken place in SKIMS and stands by its story. There were two more deaths reported from SMHS which lacks facilities to manage the disease.
Sources tell Kashmir Life that so far more than 300 cases have been tested and more than 80 cases are positive. “It does not require panic, but it is a fact,” sources said. By an average more than twenty tests are carried out a day and more than 30 percent of them are at various stages of infection. H1N1 tests are specialized laboratory processes which are expensive in private sector.
Once a patient is tested positive, they are classified in two categories. In one category, patients need medicine and can rest at home with adequate protections. The other category requires admission in the hospital in a specialized, isolated ward where they could have access to ventilators, if required.
Doctors who have studied and treated the disease said people should stay aware about the crisis but should not panic.
“Swine flu is a preventable and a treatable condition but awareness is the key. So everybody should know how it spreads and what preventive measures should be taken to prevent its spread,” pediatrician Yasir Wani wrote on his FB wall. “Just now got a call from my close FB friend, he told me that he arrived from Delhi 4 days back and had fever, sore throat and cough. He went to SKIMS for testing and was diagnosed as a case of swine flu. Since then he has been on medication and is recovering fast. So awareness about Swine flu is very important hence I put up the last post in that regard. No reason to get panicky. Just take precautions and be aware. Allah bless us all and keep us safe. Ameen..!!”
