Swine Flu Ward Opened At SCB

Cuttack: With the first case of swine flu reported in Odisha, authorities of the SCB Medical College and Hospital here on Wednesday opened a special ward for the treatment of the patients.

The decision to open a special ward was taken at a high-level meeting presided over by SCB superintendent Dr Prasanna Kumar Debata on Tuesday.

Among others, SCB administrative officer Kalpataru Behera, emergency officer Dr Bhubananda Maharana and the doctors of Pulmonary Medicine department were present.

Talking to mediapersons after the meeting, Maharana said special treatment will be provided to the swine flu patients. Since this disease rapidly spreads from one person to another, the special ward has been set up to keep the patients away from those in the other wards.

He, however, said no swine flu patient has been identified in the SCB so far.

On August 26, a 23-year-old woman patient from Nachuni in Khurda district admitted to a private hospital in Bhubaneswar was found afflicted with H1N1 virus after a sample test of her cough at the Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC) laboratory.

The state had recorded 50 swine flu deaths last year even as 400 patients tested positive.

Odisha registered the first case of swine flu in 2009 when 92 patients had tested positive for the H1N1 virus.