Fall in Swine Flu Cases in Kashmir, Vaccines Remain Unused

Swine flu scare was increasing in Kashmir a month ago, after the death of a 40-year-old Srinagar resident at the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, people rushed to various hospitals to get vaccinated. As the swine flu death toll kept on rising, doctors in Shri Maharja Hari Singh Hospital and SKIMS protested for shortage of vaccines.

But now, after 26 people succumbed to the flu in the state, it has come to the situation that around 2,500 swine flu vaccines have been left unused because people are unwilling to get vaccinated due to the declining number of swine flu cases.

Dr Farooq Jan, Medical Superintendent, SKIMS, said, “Not even the doctors posted at the institute or any other hospital were not willing to get vaccinated. These vaccines are still effective, but the people don’t want to get vaccinated. We cannot let them go waste. Hence, we are devising an effective strategy to store these.”

“Although swine flu scare is dying, prevention is always a good idea,” said, Dr Jan.

A total number of 14 people, including two pregnant women succumbed to H1N1 virus since February 17. “But in majority of these cases, the patients were already suffering from chronic ailments, especially heart and respiratory diseases,” Dr Jan said.

Kulsoom Bhat, SKIMS spokesperson, said, “ In February, 250-300 patients had visited the special pulmonary OPD set up to examine swine flu cases. Now we have 30-40 patients visiting OPD every day and lesser number of swab samples are being sent to the testing laboratory at SKIMS.”

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A total of 401 H1N1 positive cases were recorded so far. “We administer them medicines, advise them to take precautions and send them home. Minor cases of H1N1 could be well treated at home. Right now, we have only two patients admitted to the isolation ward of the hospital,” Dr Jan said.

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Source-Medindia