Public Health Department Conducts Inspection to Bring Down Swine Flu

Inspections at various private hospitals and labs in Coimbatore, India, was done as an attempt to rationalize H1N1 preventive measures adopted by the State government. S Balasubramanaiam, Joint Director (Epidemics) of Public Health Department,carried out the inspections. Balasubramanaiam held a meeting with the doctors and technicians of these hospitals and labs and instructed them to avoid late-referrals to government hospitals. Guidelines regarding categorisation of H1N1 patients and disinfectant procedures were discussed with the doctors.

“The practice of referring H1N1 patients to government hospitals in the last minute will make treatment of Category C patients difficult. So I told them to refer patients with H1N1 patients at the early stage itself,” he said.

The Deputy Director of Medical Services, S Somasundaram instructed the hospitals to notify details of detection, admission and treatment of H1N1 patients without any delay. He also instructed the labs not to encourage self-testing and to adhere to test rate (Rs 3,750) fixed by the government.

The City Corporation officials arranged for a play in VOC Park to create awareness on swine flu and dengue. They thought that by staging the play the message would have a wide reach as a large number of people but it failed to interest the public.

City Health officer Santhosh said “The team creates awareness about government schemes across the State. We have engaged them for 10 days from March 19. Street plays can effectively create awareness among people. In this case, it will help reduce cases of swine flu in the city.”

Source-Medindia