Parents in Pune have pressed the panic button after the death of Rida Shaikh, the first in the country to fall to swine flu, on August 3. On Wednesday over hundreds of people thronged Pune’s Naidu Hospital to get themselves or their children screened for swine flu. Over 300 went to the Aundh Hospital, the only other government-designated hospital in Pune dealing with swine flu cases.
Speaking to The Hindu, Dr. V. Satarkar of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) that runs the Naidu Hospital said, “People have got scared after Rida’s death. Over a thousand people with cold cough and free came to our hospital today. Our team of 10-12 doctors has been checking them since morning. On Tuesday night checking went on till 11.30.”
As tempers soared because of the skewed patient to doctor ratio, police had to be called to control the crowd, he added. The hospital had 13 positive cases as of Tuesday.
At the Aundh Hospital, people came not just to get themselves checked but also to know about sine flu. The throat swabs of 17 people were sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune and their results were awaited. At present, the hospital has three positive cases.
Additional Commissioner of the PMC and head of Pune’s joint coordination committee for the containment of swine flu M.S. Devnikar said, “There is no reason for people to panic. We are doing everything from our side. At Naidu, the present capacity is 20. But about 100 can be accommodated in our new building. We are going to conduct a meeting with the headmasters of schools to give them guidelines. NGOs on-governmental organizations should also come forward to help create awareness.”
Meanwhile, five more people tested positive for swine flu in Pune on Wednesday, three of them being students of St. Anne’s High School, where Rida Shaikh studied.
Mumbai too witnessed some panic and people made a rush to the Kasturba Hospital, the only centre treating swine flu cases in the city.
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