H1N1 claims another life at Tanda college

Our Correspondent

KANGRA, March 2

With one more swine flu death at the Dr Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College, Tanda, today, the death toll due to the H1N1 virus in Kangra district has reached five, taking the total number of deaths in the state to nine.

Dr Dinesh Sood, Medical Superintendent, DRPGMC, Tanda, said Veena Devi, 52, resident of Bortkalow village on the outskirts of the town, had tested positive and was under treatment at the hospital.

She died this afternoon. With this death, the total number of deaths in the district has reached five.

On February 26, Sushma (50) of Draman and Vijay Kumar (35) of Jogipur village in Kangra had died at the Tanda medical college.

Sood said today two more suspected cases were reported at Tanda Medical College. One of them had tested negative while results of the second sample were awaited.

He said so far, 38 patients had reported at the DRPGMC, Tanda, out of whom 13 had tested positive, including two medical students and a patient from Hamirpur.

The five patients who had died were from Thanpuri, Dehra, Draman, Bortkalow and Jogipur villages of Kangra district, Chief Medical Officer Dr BM Gupta said.

Two patients were under treatment at the isolation ward of the Dr Rajendra Prasad Medical College, Tanda, the Medical Superintendent added.

The cold weather was adding to the problems and as soon the weather warmed up, the transmission of the virus would reduce and affect fewer number of people, an expert said.

Awareness can fight swine flu: Doctors

Shimla: The doctors today quelled public fears on swine flu saying that there was no need to panic as the disease could be treated with medicine and some simple preventive measures.  Addressing the gathering at a workshop organised at the Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC) by the Himachal Gyan Vigyan (HGV) Samiti, an NGO here today, Dr Anupam, Dr Narender Mahajan and Dr Raman from the Health Department explained that there was no need to panic about the flu as its treatment was possible if detected in time. The public is being educated about the flu as they need to be more aware about the flu like, keeping warm, washing hands and taking hot meals, they added. Jiananda Sharma from HGV samiti said certain private companies were spreading panic just to make a quick buck by selling drugs in the state. The public did not need to panic and preventive measures were more important, he said. — TNS