Alarmed by the rising number of swine flu cases, 13 till Friday, the health department has taken corrective steps to ensure proper treatment but could not trace one patient.
First, a sufficient stock of the swine flu drug has been stocked in different government hospitals.
The department has arranged for personal protective equipment and N-95 masks and the facility to take suspected samples from the districts to the laboratory in Patna in a safe manner. The department has purchased viral transport media, a kit used to collect samples, for this purpose.
According to health experts, the swab sample should be collected using viral transport media only because it contains protein stabiliser and antibiotics, which can discourage bacterial and fungal growth.
"Five thousand tablets of Tamiflu (swine flu drug) have arrived and so far, we have distributed 1,200 tablets among Patna Medical College and Hospital, Nalanda Medical College and Hospital, Infectious Disease Hospital and Guru Gobind Singh Hospital. Medicines have also been distributed in the district hospitals," principal health secretary Brajesh Mehrotra said on Friday.
Mehrotra said 20,000 more Tamiflu tablets would reach the state capital on Saturday from Hyderabad by air. Besides 5,000 vaccines, (which can protect from H1N1 virus) would arrive by Sunday.
A day after The Telegraph reported that three swine flu patients could not be traced, two were traced on Friday except one. An official in the civil surgeon's office said: "A search is on to locate Anjali Devi of Agamkuan. Other patients have been traced. One patient is admitted at PMCH, six are at Infectious Disease Hospital of which four are positive, one is awaiting test report and another found negative is awaiting release on Saturday."
Mehrotra added: "We have decided to vaccinate doctors and paramedical staff because they would be at a high risk of contracting the disease. We have set up health desks at railway stations and airports, where teams of doctors and paramedical staff would check patients with swine flu symptoms. If any patient is found with symptoms of swine flu, he/ she would be given medicine at the spot and his/her samples would be sent to Rajendra Memorial Research Institute of Medical Sciences for tests. We have instructed the district administration and Patna Municipal Corporation to carry out cleanliness drives at places with pig population."
The health department has issued a helpline number 0612-2215505 for swine flu patients.