Assam govt ready to deal with swine flu cases: Minister

Assam government today said it is alert in dealing with swine flu cases and has prepared isolation wards in every district hospital across the state.
Replying to a query by BJP MLA Ranjit Kumar Das during the Question Hour, Assam Health and Family Welfare Minister Nazrul Islam said along with the isolation wards in districts, all medical colleges have been asked to keep ICUs ready.
"We have enough medicines to deal with the situation. For transportation of patients, all district hospitals have been provided with one ambulance each," Islam said.
He said to aware the public about the virus and its precautionary measures, the government was carrying out a campaign through newspapers.

On Congress MLA Ardhendu Kumar Dey's allegation that H1N1 masks were being sold at prices 5-10 times higher than the usual rates, the Minister said he would ask the Deputy Commissioners of each district to fix prices of the masks.
Islam said medical staff were rushed to affected places like Jorhat district from other places to deal with the situation in an urgent way.
The Minister said the Centre has classified the outbreak of swine flu in three categories - A, B and C.
While patients of A and B categories do not need hospitalisation, C category requires urgent institutional medical attention, he added.