Union Health Minister Reviews Preparedness on H1N1

Bengaluru, December 11, 2015: To review the preparedness on H1N1 influenza, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Shri J P Nadda held a high level meeting of senior officers from the Health Ministry, ICMR, and Directors of the Central Government Hospitals in Delhi such as Safdarjung Hospital, Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital and Lady Hardinge Hospital, here today.

The Health Minister expressed satisfaction on preparation but asked health officials to ensure that they have adequate quantities of stock of Oseltamivir, Viral Diagnostic Kits, Viral Transport Media, Personal Protective Equipment and N-95 masks, at different levels in the health care system.

It was informed that designated beds for H1N1 influenza patient have been tripled in the central government hospital in Delhi as compared to last year. Number of isolation beds and beds with ventilator are 68 and 40 in Safdarjung Hospital respectively while Dr. RML Hospital has 47 isolations beds and 25 beds with ventilator. Lady Hardinge Hospital has designated 25 isolation beds and 14 with ventilator. While in AIIMS, numbers of isolation beds are 25 and ventilator facility are 15. Number of diagnostic centres increased from 21 to 34 in the entire country while diagnostic capacity of labs has been doubled in Delhi. Health workers of these hospitals have been vaccinated, it was informed by the officials during the review meeting.

The Health Minister was also informed that a seven days workshop was organised to provide training regarding ventilator management to Master Trainers from various states. Approximately, seventy master trainers have been trained from 13 states. Beside this, a control room has also been set up, which is functioning in two shifts on working days and in one shift during holidays.

Also present in the meeting were Shri B P Sharma, Secretary (Health), Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, DG (ICMR), Dr. Jagdish Prasad, DGHS and other senior officer of the Health Ministry.

Corporate Comm India(CCI Newswire)