The condition of doctors attending to swine flu patients in the districts is no better than their counterparts working in government hospitals in Patna - with no protective gear to guard against the deadly H1N1 virus.

The health department seems oblivious to the apparent risk to the doctors working in various district hospitals and primary health centres, where the swine flu cases reach first.

A doctor working at Aurangabad sadar hospital claimed that the department had just provided a few triple-layered and N-95 masks as protection gear to the doctors. 'Besides, we have been given 50 Oseltamivir tablets to treat swine flu patients,' he said, before adding: 'The doctors here are yet to be vaccinated.'

A doctor at Vaishali sadar hospital said the hospital had been provided only with medicines to treat swine flu patients.

The doctors of the hospital were waiting to be vaccinated. 'Doctors are at high risk of contracting the disease from the exposed to the patients. So it should the health department's priority to get us vaccinated first,' said the doctor.

'We have not received any instruction from the district civil surgeon's office on the need to set up isolation ward for swine flu patients. But we have created a two-bed isolation ward on our own. We have not been provided the personal protective equipment,' said a doctor at the Bodhgaya-based community health centre.

Though no swine flu case has been reported from Motihari district or West Champaran district so far, preparations made in that regard by district hospitals at both places were almost negligible. 'Both district hospitals have been only provided with some masks,' said a source.

Shri Krishna Medical College and Hospital superintendent G.K. Thakur, however, claimed that the hospital was fully prepared to tackle swine flu cases. 'A 10-bed isolation ward has been created. The health department has provided us a packet of 100 anti-flu capsules, 100 masks and other kits of viral media.'

Thakur added: 'Two suspected cases of swine flu from the district have come to the fore but both the patients were referred to Rajendra Memorial Research Institute of Medical Sciences for the confirmatory test there.'

Health secretary Brajesh Mehrotra could not be reached despite repeated attempts.

Patna civil surgeon K.K. Mishra said district magistrate Abhay Kumar Singh convened a meeting in which the preparedness of government hospitals was discussed. 'Most patients we have received so far fall in the A and B categories. Their condition was not critical when diagnosed with the flu. Many patients have started recovering. But they might feel weak for a week. Loss of appetite might be seen in such people,' Mishra added.

Additional reporting by RN Sinha in Motihari and Khwaja Jamal in Muzaffarpur