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| Pune testing centre sees heavy rush |
| BS Reporter / Pune Aug 06, 2009, 00:54 IST |
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The only H1N1 testing centre in Pune saw heavy crowd, coming in for inspection on Wednesday after the death of a 14-year-old girl Rida Shaikh due to swine flu in the city. The staff at the Naidu Hospital, run by Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), was completely outnumbered by citizens who wanted to get themselves checked for the H1N1 infection, leading to a major ruckus inside the hospital premises here.
The hospital saw long queues of people keen to get tested. All this resulted in major turmoil followed by verbal battles between the visitors and the administrative staff at the hospital. The rush suddenly increased after the city reported the country's first ever death due to swine flu on Monday evening.
“We have seen the rush right since Tuesday morning and today the situation got a little tensed. However, we have kept things under control and testing for H1N1 is going on,” Sanjay Walhekar, an official at the hospital, told reporters. Till Wednesday evening, the hospital saw more than 800 people demanding an inspection for H1N1. “People are concerned over their health and whoever has had cold, cough and fever probably rushed to the hospital over last two days," he added. Some of the visitors, when tested negative, demanded a written report from the hospital. However, the hospital refused to give any such report, leading to a dispute.
The hospital has now deployed around 16 doctors to look after the visitors who are voluntarily coming to the hospital. The city police, in the wake of the developments, have deployed sufficient force to maintain law and order at the hospital premises. "People are more worried since Rida did not receive appropriate treatment at the right time and succumbed," an official stated.
The government of Maharashtra has already declared the districts of Pune and Satara as pandemic region since more than 150 positive cases of H1N1 infection have been reported from here. Pune city, considered to be the hub of education, information technology and automobile industry has reported 113 cases of H1N1 infection alone, out of which, 113 are school children.
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