Hyderabad: A 28-year-old man from Nizampet died of swine flu in Gandhi Hospital on Wednesday.
The patient had been shifted to Gandhi Hospital from a private hospital in a critical condition. He had been diagnosed with swine flu on January 12 and was undergoing treatment in the private hospital. On Wednesday morning, his condition became critical and he was rushed to Gandhi Hospital on ventilator support.
Dr K. Narsimulu, nodal officer of Gandhi Hospital, said, “We had the patient only for 10 minutes. We admitted him but could not treat him.”
On Tuesday night, a 60-year-old woman died of swine flu. The case was similar wherein she was being treated at a private hospital and was later rushed to Gandhi Hospital.
In 2015, two people have died due to swine flu in Telangana State so far, and one person from Andhra Pradesh. The total number of swine flu cases are 67 in both states.
A senior doctor at Gandhi Hospital said, “These patients are coming with Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, where their lungs have completely collapsed. This is because the virus attacks the body and those with weak immune systems are unable to fight it. The collapse of the lung has been seen in two major cases which have resulted in death.”
Meanwhile, director of health Dr Sambhasiv Rao and principal secretary Suresh Chandra have both repeatedly stated that the deaths are not due to “swine flu”, but due to complications. None of them, however, have clarified what the “complications” are.
There is also a complete lack of coordination in the health department, right from surveillance officers to the data centre to the doctors.
While nodal officer Dr Narsimulu has time and again stated that the deaths are due to swine flu, the senior officers are in denial mode, creating further confusion and panic among the people.
Also, the deaths are not recorded in the health department. They are only recording the blood samples tested, the diagnosis — whether positive or negative. The column of death is not included as it is stated to be “not due to swine flu”.
When questioned, a health officer said, “How do you want us to control the air? What preventive measures can we take apart from educating people?”
With utter confusion in the department, the increasing cases are making people jittery. Most are rushing to private hospitals for treatment, it is when complications arise that the private hospitals, who do not want the death to be their responsibility, shift patients to Gandhi Hospital.
