Govind Sharma
JAMMU, Feb 15: In the wake of increasing Swine Flu cases in the Country and resultant deaths due to it, the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Jammu is soon going to start a special OPD for Common Flu patients.
“Since this a season of Common Flu, whose symptoms is almost similar with dreaded Swine Flu disease, we have decided to start an OPD for Common Flu patients likely to be from coming Monday or Tuesday, so that suspected cases of Swine Flu may be timely detected and treatment be given to those whose are found positive for H1N1 virus”, said Principal, GMCH, Dr Ghansham Dev.
“Though no Swine Flu case has been reported till now in Jammu region, we are going to start this special OPD to screen suspected Swine Flu patients as a precautionary measure as three suspected cases of swine flu have been reported at GMCH recently”, Dr Ghansham Dev said.
However, he said that there was no reason to fear as out of those three suspected Swine Flu cases two were tested negative while the report of the third one is still awaited.
Dr Ghansham said that the hospital has made all arrangements to tackle this dreaded disease and this special OPD is our first step in this direction. “In this OPD, all common Flu patients will be examined by a team of doctors and if some suspected case is found, the blood sample of suspects would be taken and sent to National Institute of Communicable Diseases in New Delhi for confirmation”, he added.
As victims of this disease need complete isolation and cleanliness, we have setup an Isolation Ward on 3rd Floor of Chopra Nursing Home for treatment of such patients, he said adding arrangements for adequate quantity of protective medicines have also been made to treat such patients.
Dr Ghansham Dev further said that Swine Flu signs and symptoms in humans are similar to those of other flu strains like fever, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, body aches, headache, chills, fatigue, diarrhoea and vomiting while Swine Flu symptoms develop about one to three days after you’re exposed to the virus and continue for about seven days.
He, however said that there was nothing to panic and those who were suffering from cough, cold, sore throat and high fever should consult the doctor and get the preventive treatment.
As many as 15 people have succumbed to contagious Swine Flu in Haryana this year while the death toll due to the flu in neighbouring Punjab has crossed 23. The total toll due to Swine Flu in the Country stands at 485 this year.
Two days ago, three people, including two Army personnel, were tested positive for the dreaded H1N1 virus in Ladakh.
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