By IANS,
Thiruvananthapuram : The Kerala branch of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) Sunday announced that it would train and sensitise nearly 3,000 private hospitals and 20,000 doctors in the state to tackle swine flu cases to help reduce the rush of patients at the government health facilities.
One person has died and 71 have tested positive for the H1N1 virus that causes the swine flu.
At a joint press conference along with government officials here, state president of the IMA R. Ramesh said that close to 3,000 private hospitals and more than 20,000 doctors would be first sensitized and adequate training would be given to help reduce the load on the state health department.
“More than 60 percent (patients) get their treatment at private hospitals. We will come out with a treatment protocol similar to the one being followed in the government sector hospitals. We will also see that patients who come to the private hospitals are not exploited,” said Ramesh.
State health secretary Manoj Joshi said without the help of the private hospitals, it would be impossible to tackle swine flu.
“Currently, we have to send the samples to Delhi or Pune. We are hopeful that in the next few days we will have two centres in the state which could undertake the test and another one at the Kasturba Gandhi Medical College in Mangalore which has already started functioning. With this, the time to get the results will be reduced considerably,” Joshi said.
State nodal officer for HINI Amar S. Fettle advised the people not to panic, adding that those coming from abroad should not take medicines to hide their fever or flu.
“This might help them get past the screening process at the airports but what they forget is that, in case they have the virus, they would be doing injustice to their near and dear ones and the society at large,” warned Fettle.
The joint team warned that panicking would only help those who are in the business of selling masks, while a handkerchief could do the job, the officials said.