Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Feb 4: An employee of the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) hospital today died of Swine flu days after he was admitted here with severe respiratory infection. This is the second death due to Swine flu since 2009 in Kashmir.
Ghulam Hassan, working as Senior Assistant in Administrative Department of the SKIMS was admitted in the hospital last week after he had caught severe respiratory infection. He was put on ventilator as his lungs were severely affected by the infection. The hospital authorities say that he had shown some signs of improvement in the morning but died in the afternoon.
This is the second Swine flu death in SKIMS since December 2009 when 21-year old woman, Muskan, of Tulmulla in Central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district died of Swine flu. Hassan who died today hails from the same village Tulmulla in Ganderbal district.
Several cases of swine flu (H1N1) have been reported from SKIMS. However, doctors say there is nothing to worry about it as it has a treatment and gets cured like other flues.
Over a dozen patients, mostly who had caught it from outside the State were reported in 2009 when Swine flu broke out in India on a large scale and in a year over 1800 people died of this flu across the country. Last year over 350 people died of this disease across India.
Director SKIMS, Shoukat Ahmad Zargar, confirmed the Swine flu death at SKIMS. He said Hassan had severe infection in lungs when he was admitted in the hospital. However, he said that there is nothing to worry about the diseases as drugs are available with the hospital and a patient gets cured in a week’s time.
He said that people should not panic as it is like other flues. He said that the attendants of such patients should wear masks and patient too has to wear a mask and should be kept in semi isolation.
Zagar said that the elderly people and children have to be kept away from the infected patient as they can get this infection easily. He said that besides this patients with respiratory diseases, diabetics, advanced liver diseases and cancer should be kept away from such patients.
He said that according to World Health Organization (WHO) Swine flu has now moved into post pandemic period. He said that this spreads as seasonal influenza and in winters with other influenza its cases are being reported in the hospital.
Zagar said that there was worldwide panic in 2009 that was mostly pharmaceutical companies driven. He asked people not to panic and observe normal precautions as in other flues.
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