In view of an acute upsurge in cases of swine flu in Punjab, the Health Minister in a high level meeting with the senior officers of the health department reviewed the preparedness of the state and actions being taken by state for management of Influenza A H1N1.

After the meeting, the Minister, in a communiqué here today, disclosed that guidelines for management of Influenza A H1N1 have already been circulated to all the districts of the state. He said that separate isolation wards for management of Influenza A H1N1 have been established at three Government Medical Colleges, 22 District Hospitals and 41 Sub-divisional Hospitals of the state.

Mr Mohindra also stressed that testing of the cases is being done at GMC Amritsar, Patiala and PGIMER Chandigarh and this test is free of cost. Moreover, all the treatment of Influenza A H1N1 is being provided free of cost to all the suspected and confirmed cases in these Government Hospitals.

He told that in 2019, 140 suspected cases were tested free of cost for Influenza A H1N1 and out of these 60 cases have been found to be positive. Seven patients with complications and ongoing other illnesses have died in the state.
He told that health department teams visited all the patients and 435 close contacts of these cases were also treated free of cost.

The Minister appealed to people of the state that if a patient is suffering from flu like symptoms i.e. cough, cold with high grade fever should report to a Government Hospital immediately so that suspected cases could be treated at the earliest. He again appealed that if people will report early to Government Hospitals and are treated adequately, the severity of the illness and mortality due to Influenza A H1N1 can be reduced and prevented.