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| A student wears a protective mask while returning from school on a scooter in Guwahati on Wednesday. Picture by Eastern Projections |
Guwahati/Shillong, Aug. 13 : Dispur today geared up to tackle the deadly H1N1 influenza by providing training to 100 doctors, as neighbouring Meghalaya, which yesterday recorded its first positive case, mooted a testing centre in the region for the seven states.
Health and family welfare minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told reporters that there was no need to panic as the state was equipped to tackle the disease in the event of an outbreak.
He said Tamiflu tablets were being distributed and steps initiated to set up more isolation wards across the state, besides level 3 laboratories, which would test samples of patients with infectious diseases.
The minister held a review meeting this morning with officials of the district administrations and health department on the latest status of swine flu in the state.
Sarma said apart from Mahendra Mohan Choudhury Hospital, the state government has notified Gauhati Medical College and Hospital, Assam Medical College and Hospital, Dibrugarh and Silchar Medical College and Hospital as the designated centres to treat patients.
While isolation wards with ICU facility had already been created at GMCH, both AMCH and SMCH will be equipped with such facilities by tomorrow. “The district hospitals in Jorhat, Nagaon, Sonitpur and Kokrajhar will be converted into regional centres to diagnose and treat flu patients. The regional centres will be equipped to look after persons with symptoms similar to H1N1 in nearby districts.
“The centres will collect samples and send them for testing to the Regional Medical Research Centre, Lahowal, in Dibrugah district. The 100 trained doctors will start visiting different districts from Friday. Every district has received 100 Tamiflu tablets. Apart from the Centre’s supply of medicines and protective masks like N95, the state government will procure the items by spending funds from its own coffers,” Sarma said.
An official of the rank of joint secretary in the Union commerce ministry, who is part of a team constituted by the Centre on swine flu, has arrived in the state to take stock of the situation, Sarma added.
In Shillong, deputy chief minister in-charge, health, Mukul Sangma, said there should be a concerted effort on the part of all the Northeast’s health ministers to approach Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad to set up a testing centre either in Shillong or Guwahati.
According to Sangma, the testing centre can either be established at NEIGRIHMS in Shillong or any other medical institute in Assam.
The condition of the local football player, Salwit Tongper, 17, from Jaintia Hills who tested positive for swine flu yesterday, is stable.