Coimbatore: The number of swine flu cases is fluctuating every day and it does not seem to be under control yet. On Wednesday, there are 21 H1N1 patients undergoing treatment for the dreaded fever at the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH), of whom 17 are from this city, one from Nilgiris, two from Tirupur and one from Salem. A total of 58 are under the ‘fever case category’ of which seven are dengue patients.
Officially there has been only three deaths of patients who tested positive for swine flu, virus, informed the District Public Health department. But, other sources in the health department reveal there have been more than 15 death cases underreported in the city.
The CMCH record shows only two cases of H1N1 in January 2017 and February recorded 122 cases. Of them, 115 were adults and seven were pediatric cases, informed Dr R. Soundravel, resident medical officer (RMO), CMCH.
Steps taken by the Health department
People entering into Tamil Nadu from neighbouring states are screened for swine flu, says Dr P. G. Bhanumathi, deputy director of Health Services. In the wake of large number of death cases due to H1N1 in Coimbatore, the Health department only confirms three death cases who tested positive for swine flu so far.
The dean of CMCH has strictly asked all pharmacies to have enough stock of medicines. Awareness camps in all the schools and colleges are conducted with live demonstration on hand-wash.
The Health department claims to be having enough number of tamiflu tablets and vaccines in stock. “We have 11, 000 tamiflu tablets, 8, 600 tamiflu vaccination, 5, 000 triple layer mask, 6, 000 personal protective equipment and 3, 000 oxygen masks in our stock now. There is no need to panic,” said Dr P. G. Bhanumathi, deputy director of Health Services.
As per the instructions from the health secretary, Dr J. Radhakrishnan, the DD health services said that they were asked to screen people entering into Tamil Nadu from neighbouring states for swine flu. “We have been doing it in all the check-posts for the past 20 days now. We are also distributing pamphlets and placing banners on awareness for H1N1,” added Dr Bhanumathi.
Everyday reports from all the labs are collected keeping an eye on patients, whether they are positive to H1N1 or not. A team of two from deputy directorate of Health Services one at Pollachi and one at Coimbatore along with a health inspector and a medical officer is visiting all the government and private hospitals with tamilflu tablets. “The team ensures even the contacted person who has been in touch with the positive patient, the nursing staff everyone receive precautionary treatment,” said Dr. Bhanumathi.
Patients worry
Complaints of poor treatment at the CMCH have surfaced with a harried son of a realtor, who succumbed to flu, knocking on the doors of the district collector on February 21 to improve facilities at the hospital.
The 32-year-old petitioner, Arun Kumar, from Sowripalayam urged the district collector to take action against the authorities of CMCH for not providing immediate treatment to his father who died after being admitted for cardiac arrest but later identified as swine flu.
Arun Kumar alleged that nurses and doctors did not pay attention to provide necessary lifesaving equipment to his 56-year old father. “My 56-year old father, Michael Raj, was admitted in a private hospital for respiratory problem on February 14. He was termed as suffering from cardiac arrest. Doctors suggested shifting him to CMCH but, after we reached CMCH, doctors there asked to wait outside the ward. Health of my father started deteriorating and he vomited but, no ward boy or nurse cared to come forward to help us. After he was allotted a bed, due to sickness, his bed was wet for more than two hours and this added more. If we were aware of the situation he was into, we could have changed the bed sheet and his clothes,” he lamented.
He also complained that his father was not even provided oxygen mask. “Doctors asked us to buy one and handed over a prescription. Between all these, my father had already passed away,” he sobs.
While the hospital authority, CMCH dean, Edwin Joe denied the charges. “We have deployed two ward boys to monitor the patients, and we also allow one attender to be along with patient who will be given a precautionary vaccine to protect themselves from infection. Most of the patients are coming to the government hospital only in the last stage. When the condition gets worse the private hospitals redirect the patients to the GH; most of the patients who died due to swine flu were treated in the private hospital for more than five days. We have cured swine flu patients who were admitted in the beginning stage,” he said.
