Visakhapatnam: Two more persons succumbed to swine flu in the city during in past two days, taking the death toll to four this season.
According to a source, a 27-year-old man from Anakapalle succumbed to the disease on Wednesday while a 21-year-old man from Eluru died on Tuesday.
Both the deceased were initially admitted in King George Hospital with symptoms of swine flu (H1N1 virus). They were shifted to Government Hospital for Chest and Infectious Diseases for further treatment.
Though the deaths took place at the GHCID, hospital superintendent Dr G. Sambasiva Rao was unaware of the two deaths. When asked about the number of patients at the government hospital, he said that seven patients were admitted to Infectious Diseases Hospital ward.
District collector Pravin Kumar recently directed the government doctors to provide immediate healthcare services to the swine flu infected patients. He asked KGH doctors not to refer GHCID as there were no sufficient staff and basic infrastructure. He also instructed to procure vaccines from the market.
As per a source, these vaccines were not available for the doctors and nurses at the GHCID till now. Apart from the staff shortage, the existing employees of government hospital were not attending their duties with a fear of infection.
Earlier, a 28-year-old woman patient succumbed to swine flu at the same hospital. However, a GHCID official said that there was no reason to get panic. He informed that the deceased patients were suffering from co-morbidity conditions.
DMHO Dr Tirupathi Rao said, “We are conducting screening camps at all 12 centres in the district. Required medicines have been distributed to all government hospitals.”
