The Department of Public Health on Monday asked all private hospitals in Coimbatore to report to it cases of H1N1, after a 75-year-old man from Tirupur district succumbed to the virus on Sunday. At a meeting with the heads of major hospitals, Joint Director of Public Health Sukumaran and Deputy Director S. Senthilkumar said private healthcare centres could also create isolation wards to treat flu cases. But, they must ensure that their medical and paramedical personnel had enough protection from the flu virus.
The special ward at the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital was also in a state of preparedness and a special team of doctors and paramedical staff was formed on Monday to deal with any spurt. In 2009-10, treatment was permitted only in the isolation ward of the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital. Private hospitals could treat the cases now, but would certainly have to report these to the Government health officials as measures to prevent the spread in and around the residence of the patients would have to be taken.
The occurrence in the previous years might have helped build immunity – either because of the preventive vaccine or the treatment already undergone by the flu-affected. Authorities are convinced that that this time flu won’t become epidemic like last time. Officials also reported none of deceased family members tested positive for the virus.
