3 swine flu deaths in C'garh so far; no need to panic: govt

As many as 27 people in Chhattisgarh had been detected with swine flu this year and three persons have died of the disease, the state government said today.
"202 samples of suspected swine flu patients were sent to the National Centre for Disease Control in Delhi, of which reports of 118 were received," Director, Health Services, R Prasanna said at a press conference today.
"The reports confirmed that 27 of them were H1N1 positive and three of them have died so far," he said.
The official said there was enough stock of swine flu medicines in the state.
"We have abundant stocks of the (swine flu) medicines," he said, adding that 7,036 strips of 75 mg Tamiflu capsules and 264 strips of 30 mg capsules were available, alongwith 92 bottles of Tamiflu syrup.

There were sufficient masks, etc, too, he said.

Prasanna, however, admitted that there was a shortage of H1N1 vaccine in the state.
"There is a shortage of vaccine as a large number of people were administered it after the cases of swine flu came up. There is no need to panic as it would be available within 2-3 days," he said.
Health minister Amar Agrawal had directed the officials to take preventive measures to control the spread of the disease and make arrangements for treatment, he said.
Prasanna also advised that if symptoms of viral infection were seen, people should immediately visit the doctor, assuring that the disease was treatable with Tamiflu.

Isolation wards had been established at Dr B R Ambedkar Hospital, Chhattisgarh Institute of Medical Sciences (CIMS) in Bilaspur, Maharani Hospital in Jagdalpur and at the district hospitals, he said.