Govt Prepares to Combate H1N1 Influenza; 16 Labs, Rapid Action Forces to be Set up

Alarmed, and worried on Swine flu, now called H1NI influenza, the government is sprucing up measures to tackle the pandemic, with 16 more laboratories to be activated across the country and rapid action forces to be set at state level.

After a high-level meeting with senior officials, Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad told reporters: “Lot of arrangements have already been made. Passengers, especially from the US, Mexico, Dubai and Canada, are being checked on all the 21 international airports.”

In view of the possibility of viral ailment’s acquiring dreadly proportion, the minister said that in addition two laboratories situated in Delhi and Pune, government has decided to activate 16 more laboratories across the country for test of swine flu virus. He said that special caution has to be taken as the infection has now in one or two cases spread from human to human.

“The Health Ministry already has the labs, but they are for testing different diseases. They would be prepared for H1N1 flu also and the lab technicians and doctors would be trained within a week,” Azad said.

The minister said that the government has sent a Rapid Action team to Andhra Pradesh where the first human to human transmission of swine flu was reported, but added that it was not enough.

Azad said, “Creating more teams is not enough as we shall have to train them. So we have decided at the national level we have about 25 doctors who are trained in this type of particular diseases and would in turn train the state-level teams.”