Swine flu vaccine 'dries up' in Kashmir, doctors at risk

Top health officials in Kashmir Valley today admitted that there was no swine flu vaccine available in any hospital of the region, where four persons have died and at least 109 are being treated for the disease.
Although they feel that there was no need for mass immunisation, but, at the same time, they admit that doctors and the health staff which takes care of infected patients are at risk and should be vaccinated.
"There are no immunisation vaccines for H1N1 virus available anywhere in the Valley," Director Health, Kashmir, Saleem-ur-Rehman told PTI.
Rehman said the department was trying to procure the vaccines but "they had dried up".

"We had asked the suppliers for the vaccines, but it seems they have dried up. We are now trying to procure them from the open market and are hopeful to get them soon," he said.
He said that mass immunisation was not necessary and only doctors and the staff should be given the vaccine.

"Mass immunisation is not recommended and only those health workers, who are dealing with the patients, are required to be immunised," the director Health said.
The authorities at Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), which is the only testing and treatment centre in the Valley, also admitted of non-availability of vaccines.

"Yes, we do not have vaccines available in the institute as of now," Dr. Farooq Jan, Medical Superintendent, SKIMS, told PTI.
Doctors at SKIMS, who were dealing with patients at the Emergency and the OPD of the hospital, voiced their apprehensions about catching infection in the absence of immunisation and protective gear.
"We do not know what is coming to us. We are dealing with many patients, some of whom may have the virus. In the absence of immunisation and the protective gear like special masks, we are prone to infection," a resident doctor at SKIMS said, wishing anonymity.
He also expressed concern over the "secrecy" which the health authorities in general and the SKIMS in particular maintained over the issue.

"We were not told about the outbreak of swine flu in Kashmir. They should have informed us well in time so that we could have taken precautions. We got to know about this through media only," he said.