West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today called for joint efforts by the Centre, state governments and NGOs to fight the swine flu outbreak, which has claimed five lives in the state.
"It is time for the central government, state governments and NGOs to work together to take all necessary remedial measures," Banerjee said in a Facebook post.
Urging people not to panick and work towards spreading awareness, she said, "Incidents of swine flu have been on the rise."
The chief minister said, "As of now, 833 deaths have taken place this year in the country due to swine flu, including 214 in Rajasthan, 207 in Gujarat, 112 in Madhya Pradesh, 99 in Maharashtra, 51 in Telengana, 33 in Karnataka, 20 in Haryana, 10 in Andhra Pradesh, 8 in Delhi, etc.
"Despite all our efforts and making available necessary medicines, 5 unfortunate deaths, including 1 patient from Mumbai, have taken place in our state so far", she said.
Five persons have succumbed to swine flu in West Bengal, while 67 others have been affected so far, state Minister for Health Chandrima Bhattacharya said today.
The minister said there is no shortage of medicines and testing kits at hospitals to tackle the spread of the H1N1 virus.
