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Union Health Minister J P Nadda chaired a high level meeting to review preparedness of Gujarat for H1N1, at Gandhinagar. Nitinbhai Patel, Health Minister of Gujarat; Shankarbhai Chaudhari, MoS, Health, Gujarat and senior officers of the Gujarat Government including Shri Anil Mukim, Principal Secretary (Health) and J P Gupta, Commissioner (Health) were also present at the meeting.

The Union Health Minister reviewed the preparedness in terms of number of testing kits, personal protective equipment, labs, anti-virals and isolation wards. The state officers pointed that Gujarat has state of the art diagnostic facilities. They are conducting tests free of charge for those suspected of H1N1 and seeking treatment either from the government or private health facilities. A total of five diagnostic labs can test samples; total of 1707 samples have been tested this year. As many as 90 patients from neighbouring states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Silvassa exhibiting symptoms of H1N1 have been tested and treated.

It was stated that the awareness drive has been further intensified with special screening OPDs for those suffering from influenza like illness (ILI) at places such as mass gatherings, house to house survey and contact tracing by trained health workers in four districts of Kutch, Ahmedabad, Surat and Vadodara which share 3/4 of the burden of total cases in the state. More than 17 lakh persons have been covered under the drive.

The Union Minister for Health visited hospitals to take a first-hand review of the prevailing facilities for managing H1N1. He visited the Civil Hospital, Ahmedabad, and took a round of the Cancer, Ophthalmology and Nephrology hospitals. The Union Health Minister also discussed other health issues including Ebola during the meeting.

By Premji