10 Aug : The govt on Monday decided to allow private labs to conduct tests of suspected cases in accordance with guidelines issued by it and stockpile another two crore tablets of Tamiflu to check spread of the disease.
It also decided to send around 35 additional and joint secretaries from various ministries, along with health ministry officials, to states to brief them about the steps to spruce up the healthcare infrastructure.
The minister said it would rope in private hospitals to treat patients and even issue “legal directives” to them if they refused.
At a high-level meeting of senior health ministry officials at New Delhi on Monday which was chaired by Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, and attended by Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrashekhar, it was decided to form teams of officials from other ministries to send to state governments to help them identify private hospitals which can be made nodal hospitals.
“As of now we have been corresponding with the state governments only through letters, but it now seems that this is not enough, so we have decided to send these teams comprising officials of additional secretary level to various states,” Azad told reporters at New Delhi on Monday.
“We have not asked any private hospital, as of now, to treat patients and none has refused us, but if it comes to that we would issue legal directives to them to follow certain norms,” Azad said.
The private hospitals will need to have separate OPDs, wards without central airconditioning and separate staff nurses and doctors who have to use personal protection equipment.
Azad said the Ministry has finalised guidelines to allow private labs to conduct tests for swine flu.”We have finalised the guidelines for allowing private labs to conduct tests. We have sent those to state governments. Once the private labs meet the guideline requirements, states can allow them (to carry out tests),” he said.
Azad said more thermal scanners would be installed at international airports.Their performance has been observed at the international airport in Delhi and it has been noted that detection of cases through the thermal scanners has helped increased the detection of cases from two to 20 percent.
He said the government will procure an additional two crore capsules of Tamiflu as the current stockpile of one crore has been sent to various states.”We will stockpile another two crore Tamiflu and procure 22,000 medical kits (used to detect the swine flu),” Azad said.
The Health Ministry said that as of now, the virus has not reached community level in India. On providing N-95 preventive masks to people, he said, “it was a state subject and would have to be dealt with by them”.
Azad also said the screening of passengers at airports will continue. So far, 864 people had tested positive of whom 523 have been treated and discharged.
Considering the population in the country, he said, the figure of those affected was “very small” compared to thousands of people affected in countries with smaller populations.The Minister said Prime Minister was in touch with him constantly and that he is keeping him informed about the situation in the country.
On closure of schools, Azad says it is up to the state government and respective schools to take a decision, but as of now there was no need to do so.”Children who are not going to school are anyway going to parties and markets so the parents have to basically ensure that children with symptoms of the disease stay at home,” he added.