Lab test reports of a suspected Swine Flu case at Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) will arrive on Wednesday, RIMS officials said.
RIMS superintendent Dr Vivek Kashyap said that there is only one suspected Swine Flu patient at the hospital at present. He was admitted in RIMS around five days ago, he added. “The reports have been delayed. They will be with us the day after tomorrow,” he said on Monday.
Swine Flu has already claimed one life in Ranchi this year. Hitesh Kumar, who worked in the merchant navy in South Korea, died of Swine Flu in the city on January 25. Kumar returned to Ranchi in mid-January after being taken ill and lived in an apartment on Kanke Road. After complaining of high fever, chills and severe body aches, he was admitted in Medanta Hospital in the last week of January.
The patient, whose blood samples have been sent for H1N1 test, has responded to the treatment so far and as of now it seems that he has not contracted the infection, RIMS doctors said.
Sources said that he is a resident of Lohardaga and he was undergoing treatment in Vellore. However, he came to Ranchi because of financial crisis. He was tested positive in preliminary test.
RIMS Director Dr. DK Singh confirmed that the sample has been sent for test but refused to make any further comments about suspected Swine Flu cases in the
hospital.
According to the figures mentioned in the official website of Integrated Disease Surveillance Program (IDSP), at least eight patients in Jharkhand have been tested so far for H1N1 flu but none of the reports came out positive. The figures were last updated on the website on February 3.
However, IDSP’s district surveillance officer Rajeev Kumar said that the number of samples collected has gone up to 12, but all were negative.
The Health Department has issued strict instructions that no hospital in Jharkhand should take any case of suspected Swine Flu
lightly. Hospitals in all the 24 districts have been asked to immediately report if any patient’s symptoms mimic that of H1N1 Flu.
Meanwhile, the State Animal Husbandry department has issued a Bird Flu alert after mysterious death of several crows and poultry in Bokaro. Test of samples have confirmed that the birds died due to Avian Flu.
However, Dr Kashyap denied the rumours about Bird Flu cases reported in the hospital. “No Bird Flu cases have been reported yet,” he said.
