New screening centers in AP to combat H1N1 menace

Due to these eight centres which have already been provided the requisite information and know-how for screening, patients are likely to reduce the pressure on the government Chest Hospital which has witnessed a sudden surge in the patients in the recent past.

Quarantine facility at nodal centre only
These centres are Kondapur Isolation Centre, Vanasthalipuram Hospital, King Kothi, Osmania, Gandhi Hospital, Railway Hospital, AP State Road Transport Corporation Hospital and ESI Hospital at Nacharam.

“From now on, patients need not come from far off places to Chest Hospital. Depending on their locality, they can visit the above four hospitals,” State coordinator for swine flu K. Subhakar said of the initiative.

The doctors in these new set ups for swine flu will take a final call on whether the patient is serious enough to be referred to the Chest Hospital.

The responsibility of sample collection of identified patients and quarantining of patients in case they test positive, will rest with the Chest Hospital, the nodal centre for testing swine flu patients.

The authorities are now in the process of procuring diagnostic kits that will detect common influenza. This will help in quick distinctions between swine flu patients and patients suffering from common viral as the symptoms of the two are pretty similar.

Ahemdabad follows suit
In a similar development in Ahemdabad, the state authorities certified five private hospitals as well, equipped to treat the dreaded influenza.

Jaynarayan Vyas, health minister of Gujarat said, “In case the capacity of government hospitals fall short, which is unlikely to happen, the patients would be referred to private hospitals.”

“The government has formed a team that will visit the private hospitals, which are interested in treating swine flu patients, and will certify them as swine flu treatment competitive if they fulfill certain criteria," Vyas added.