Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Day after death, Maharashtra invokes Epidemic Act

MUMBAI: A day after the death of a 14-year-old schoolgirl of swine flu in neighbouring Pune, the Maharashtra government has invoked the Epidemic
Diseases Act, 1897, in Pune and Satara districts to empower collectors to take stringent action to prevent the spread of the disease. The state is, however, not the first to enforce the tough legislation: it has been in force in Delhi for over a month now.

However, state officials insist that there is no need to press the panic button yet. A tally of 152 positive cases of swine flu and one death, they say, is not alarming when compared to the global pandemic situation.
Exhorting the people not to panic, chief minister Ashok Chavan declared that the health department had been instructed to take appropriate steps to deal with the epidemic. State minister for health Rajendra Shingne added,

‘‘It is wrong to assume that one will die of the disease. If a patient is given proper treatment at the preliminary state itself, s/he can be cured within five days.’’

Mumbai, health officials say, has no cause for concern vis-a-vis swine flu. ‘‘If there is a spurt in the number of cases, then we will see,’’ health officials told reporters. ‘‘If needed, the Epidemic Diseases Act will be invoked in
other places in the state as well,’’ said Shingne.

According to additional chief secretary (health) Sharvaree Gokhale, ‘‘The act will empower the collectors to take certain actions. For instance, if need be, they can declare a holiday in schools where there are suspected cases.

They can also cordon off areas in their jurisdiction and implement travel restrictions as a precautionary measure to avoid spread of the disease.’’ At a press conference held after a high-level meeting of health officials, the state health minister unveiled a new strategy to contain swine flu. For one, every district hospital has been instructed to set up an isolation ward to quarantine suspected swine flu cases. Secondly, a lot of the health staff has been trained to handle such cases.

In Mumbai, the state officials agreed to allow testing of samples at Haffkine Institute, Parel. So far, only a handful of centres across the country, including the National Institute of Virology (Pune), was allowed to test samples of H1N1.

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