First wave of scare over,city prays to keep second at bay

Despite a steady rise in the positive cases since April,the state woke up to the epidemic only when 14-year-old Reedha Sheikh,a class nine student of St Anne’s High School in Pune,died of swine flu. The death created panic both in Pune and Mumbai,with hundreds rushing to the isolation centres for screening. The lack of infrastructure,doctors and paramedics was clearly felt besides a dearth of information on the screening and isolation centres.

A day after the death,the government invoked the 102-year-old Epidemic Diseases Control Act,giving more teeth to the administration to tackle the disease. The Act was invoked to prevent the spread of the air-borne virus in two districts — Pune and Panchgani,but the damage was already done as the virus had reached many districts.

In Sheikh’s case,a team of doctors from the National Centre for Disease Control concluded that she had acquired the virus from her school. This led to schools being shut down as a precautionary step.

The scare spread faster than the disease with Tamil Nadu bringing out a travel advisory to avoid travel to Maharashtra unless necessary. The state government also advised its citizens against travelling to Pune.

Femida Panwala (33),a diabetic,became Mumbai’s first swine flu victim. The scare gripped Mumbai with surgicals,clothes and even N95 masks becoming a part of attire. When chemists ran out of N95 stocks,hawkers grabbed the opportunity by selling substandard masks. While people tied handkerchiefs,dupattas and scarves on their faces,private doctors refused to treat even common cold.

A core committee of state and civic health authorities,besides experts treating swine flu patients,was formed to tackle the epidemic. Some of the decisions taken by the committee,like starting symptomatic treatment with Tamiflu before the test results came in,were appreciated even by the World Health Organisation. The state was also forced to allow over-the-counter medication from chemists against doctors’ prescription when swine flu was at its peak.

The state was in a damage-control mode once the number of cases rose; health authorities increased the number of isolation centres at hospitals while even private hospitals offered beds for isolation of swine flu patients.

Though health authorities were initially opposed to closing down the schools,a political clamour forced them to implement the Mexican pattern (shutting down all public places till the virus loses its potency) to shut them for three days along with theatres and multiplexes. Malls,however,were spared on condition that they will not announce any sales to attract crowds.  

“Learning from the first swine flu wave,we have trained our doctors and we can start at least 100 more centres in case of a second wave. Also,we have augmented our intensive care unit capacity from 10 in Nair hospital to 30 beds in Nair,Sion and KEM hospitals. Besides,we have more facilities for testing for the virus,” said Manisha Mahiskar,additional municipal commissioner (health),BMC.