Guj: Swine flu death toll reaches 230, state seeks central aid (Eds: Updating with fresh inputs)

Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani today visited civil hospitals in four major cities to take stock of the swine flu situation in the state, even as the death toll due to the H1N1 virus infection has gone up to 230.
During his visit to a hospital in Vadodara, Rupani said he has requested the Centre to send a team of medical experts to the state to suggest steps to prevent the spread of the disease.
"Rupani along with state health minister Shankar Chaudhary, today visited Civil Hospitals of Surat, Rajkot, Vadodara and Ahmedabad to take first hand information about the measures being taken by respective authorities to tackle swine flu in the state," a government release said.

Talking to PTI during his visit to Sir Sayajirao General Hospital in Vadodara, Rupani said, "Swine flu has claimed the lives of more than 200 people and 2,100 positive cases have been reported in the state so far, of which about 1,200 cases are reported from the four cities of Vadodara, Surat, Ahmedabad and Rajkot."
"Hospitals in the state are equipped with ventilators, oxygen cylinders, and there is enough stock of tablets and other medicines. The government hospitals have set up isolation wards. But despite all these measures, we have requested the Centre to dispatch its team to the state to take stock of the situation and recommend ways to prevent the spread of the disease," he said.

The government has set up isolation wards at all the government and civic hospitals and testing of the swine flu cases are being done in at least nine labs in the state, which was not possible till several years ago as the reports in this regard used to be sent to the labs located in Pune in Maharashtra for confirming the case of swine flu, the chief minister said.

According to the government release, during his visit to the hospitals, Rupani advised the doctors to give Tamiflu medicine to swine flu patients. Giving the slogan of 'Any Flu- Tamiflu', Rupani even recommended the use of this medicine to treat patients with general fever.

"Of the total cases of swine flu reported so far, almost 68 per cent cases have been reported in these four cities. During his visit to these four cities, Rupani interacted with doctors as well as patients and obtained details about the ongoing treatment," it said.
Rupani informed reporters that Tamiflu was available in adequate amount in all government hospitals and is given free of cost. Patients in private hospitals, too, are being given treatment for swine flu free of cost, the release added.
As per the daily health bulletin issued by the state government, ten persons died due to swine flu in the state today, taking the death toll to 230 since January this year.

Out of the ten, three died in Ahmedabad city, while one each died in Amreli, Rajkot city, Kutch, Junagadh city, Rajkot district, Anand and Sabarkantha, said the bulletin.
It said that 177 new cases of swine flu were registered in the state today.
Since January, 2,272 patients infected with H1N1 virus have been admitted in various hospitals across the state. Out of them, 857 have been have been cured, 1,225 are still under treatment while 230 have died, it said.