Chandigarh, February 24
Even as the UT Administration has issued a public appeal to all those people who came in contact with Krishan Singh, who died of suspected plague at the PGI, and his wife while they were in the city, to contact the PGI reception immediately, the first victim of ‘‘plague scare’’ was received at the Sector 16 hospital.
Rukmini Devi (85), who arrived in the hospital last night complaining of cough, was declared to have tuberculosis after she was thoroughly checked for any plague-like symptoms. ‘‘The case is frank TB and I have myself checked all her X-ray reports. She has been a patient of TB for many years now,’’ said Dr Rasmeshwar Chander, DHS, UT Administration. Stating that Rukmini Devi is doubtlessly a case of TB and not plague, Dr Bhandari, who is the nodal officer for suspected plague cases in the city, informed that she had been admitted to the TB ward of the hospital. ‘‘There are not even plague-like symptoms which she is showing. She has cough and some infection in the chest due to her old disease. She is also in no way linked to either Krishan Singh’s family or the Himachal family. She is a loner and does not even move outside her house much,’’he said.
Other than this, the city remained quiet as far as the plague scare was concerned. Both GMCH-32 and General Hospital Sector 16 have a fully functional make-shift isolation ward ready for any suspected plague patients.
Meanwhile, residents of Kansal village who lived in close proximity to Krishan Singh were given prophylactic medicines. The employees of R.K. Steels Sector 29, where Krishan Singh worked and did a full shift on February 16, have also been distributed medicines and counselled by a team of doctors and field workers.
The family which was living next to Krishan Singh’s house and left for their home town in a village in Ludhiana district is also being traced, said the Punjab health authorities.
The two-member NICD team visited the PGI today and at a meeting with the doctors in charge of the situation exchanged information and collected data.
Meanwhile, almost everyone at the PGI emergency has donned masks as a protective measure against the disease. People doing the rounds of PGI’s Nehru Hospital on a routine basis are also taking necessary precautions.
