Indian Government Issues Revised H1N1 Guidelines to States

The Union Health Ministry has issued revised vaccination and clinical management guidelines to the state governments for seasonal Influenza (H1N1). "Necessary directions have been issued related to procurement, training, issuing of advisories and guidelines for the state government to review the preparedness for tackling seasonal Influenza (H1N1). We are monitoring the situation on real time basis. A control room has already been set up and is fully functional now. We have also rolled out a nationwide awareness campaign on Seasonal Influenza (H1N1)," Health Minister J. P. Nadda said.

The health authority said that 5,000 N95 masks and 10,000 Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kits are being procured by Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). The process of procurement of at least 1 lakh syrups and 3 lakh tablets of Oseltamivir 75 Mg is already underway.

"We have assured full support to the state governments. In fact, the Ministry has already issued three advisories to the state governments over the last one month and held a video conference with them to review their strategy and plans," they said.

The officials said that there was sufficient stock of drugs, testing kits and masks. In addition to that, around 7,000 diagnostic kits have already been distributed among various government labs and 15,000 more kits will be provided to them.



Source-Medindia