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RAWALPINDI, March 19: On Tuesday night, a surgeon from Gujar Khan died at Holy Family Hospital, becoming the city’s second death this year from swine flu (Influenza H1N1).
The second case of this disease has prompted the hospital and the health department to take precautionary measures, though nurses and other hospital staff claim they have not been provided with necessary protection equipment.
Dr. Matloob Ahmed, a 45-year-old surgeon, came to Holy Family from Gujar Khan on March 13, unconscious and unable to provide a complete medical history. His family, however, described symptoms that sounded like swine flu, and doctors sent samples to the National Institute of Health, which confirmed the disease two days later.
Dr. Javed Hayat, Holy Family’s In-charge for infectious diseases, told reporters that after being on a ventilator for the past week, the patient ‘died at 8pm on Tuesday, from acute respiratory distress syndrome.’
Dr. Ahmed’s family had been given precautionary medicines, and according to Dr. Zafar Iqbal Gondal, Executive District Health Officer, a team from the district health department went to Gujar Khan to check on Dr. Ahmed’s relatives and neighbors. “None of them seemed to have contracted swine flu,” Dr. Gondal said, but the department would “launch precautionary measures” in Gujar Khan.
The second appearance of swine flu in Rawalpindi, after a 45-year-old woman died from the disease on January 24, has brought the hospital’s preparedness into question.
Two nurses and a ward boy who had been taking care of Dr. Ahmed later showed flu-like symptoms, and were transferred to an isolation ward two days ago.
According to Dr Hayat, the NIH has declared that they do not have H1N1, and “their condition is good.” He claimed that doctors, nurses and other paramedical staff “have been given preventive medicines.”
Hospital employees, however, say that protection has been given mostly to doctors. A nurse, Fozia Buksh, told Dawn that nurses and ward boys had not been issued gloves, masks, or other personal protection equipment.
“The attendants who come with patients provide us gloves, if we ask for them,” she said. A ward boy, Aslam Chaudhry, said that Holy Family administration had told him to purchase his own mask and gloves from outside.
Dr. Gondal claimed that the local health department would receive protective equipment from Lahore “within a few days”, after which it would be provided to staff in three public hospitals and the tehsil headquarters hospital in Rawalpindi district
Source Dawn.com
The second case of this disease has prompted the hospital and the health department to take precautionary measures, though nurses and other hospital staff claim they have not been provided with necessary protection equipment.
Dr. Matloob Ahmed, a 45-year-old surgeon, came to Holy Family from Gujar Khan on March 13, unconscious and unable to provide a complete medical history. His family, however, described symptoms that sounded like swine flu, and doctors sent samples to the National Institute of Health, which confirmed the disease two days later.
Dr. Javed Hayat, Holy Family’s In-charge for infectious diseases, told reporters that after being on a ventilator for the past week, the patient ‘died at 8pm on Tuesday, from acute respiratory distress syndrome.’
Dr. Ahmed’s family had been given precautionary medicines, and according to Dr. Zafar Iqbal Gondal, Executive District Health Officer, a team from the district health department went to Gujar Khan to check on Dr. Ahmed’s relatives and neighbors. “None of them seemed to have contracted swine flu,” Dr. Gondal said, but the department would “launch precautionary measures” in Gujar Khan.
The second appearance of swine flu in Rawalpindi, after a 45-year-old woman died from the disease on January 24, has brought the hospital’s preparedness into question.
Two nurses and a ward boy who had been taking care of Dr. Ahmed later showed flu-like symptoms, and were transferred to an isolation ward two days ago.
According to Dr Hayat, the NIH has declared that they do not have H1N1, and “their condition is good.” He claimed that doctors, nurses and other paramedical staff “have been given preventive medicines.”
Hospital employees, however, say that protection has been given mostly to doctors. A nurse, Fozia Buksh, told Dawn that nurses and ward boys had not been issued gloves, masks, or other personal protection equipment.
“The attendants who come with patients provide us gloves, if we ask for them,” she said. A ward boy, Aslam Chaudhry, said that Holy Family administration had told him to purchase his own mask and gloves from outside.
Dr. Gondal claimed that the local health department would receive protective equipment from Lahore “within a few days”, after which it would be provided to staff in three public hospitals and the tehsil headquarters hospital in Rawalpindi district
Source Dawn.com
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