Source: Hueiyen News Service
Imphal, June 30 2009:
Manipur has intensified surveillance over swine flu with pressing the Rapid Response Team (RRT) of five to six doctors into service at the district level.
The step has been taken up following the report of a man having H1N1 virus in the neighbouring state of Assam.
Official source said, state government has started taking precautionary measures to prevent the disease from coming into the state.
Additional Director of state Health Department, Dr Thounaojam Bubhonchandra, who has been appointed as state swine flu nodal officer told Hueiyen Lanpao that after the Assam government alerted the state on Swine Flu, the Health Department has taken up all necessary measures to counter the flu.
As a part of the precautionary measures, conduction of medical check up to those men coming from outside the state has started.
The authority has also stationed a team of well trained doctors in the field from Imphal west district chief medical officer at the Imphal Tulihal Airport to check the people arriving from outside the state.
Another team of experts on the dreaded virus will also been stationed at Moreh to check people entering from Myanmar side.
Chief medical officer of Chandel district have been instructed to take up necessary action, he added.
The nodal officer while observing that as airport is one of the important points where people coming from country affected by Swine Flu entered the authority here considered the Imphal Airport importantly.
As such authority has taken up works of general surveillance works in the area.
Thirty packets of protective equipments (masks etc.) have been supplied through the joint manager of the Airport Authority of India for use by the employees including the CISF personnel deploying there.
Sensitization session for protection of the Swine Flu has also started taken up, Bubhonchandra said.
Following the declaration of Swine Flu alert in Assam, in the state too, a meeting held on June 11 under the chair of the state chief secretary discussed with the officials of the health department which health commissioner, DGP and director of Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS) also took part.
Following the resolution passed in the meeting, a rapid response team comprising five to six doctors expert in the field have been formed at all the districts.
They have been put into service from 9 am till 6 pm everyday.
A control room has also been opened at the room no.23 of the state health directorate.
It can also be contacted to 2411668 and 2416922, he informed.
He also recalled that with the confirmation of prevalent of the disease over 85 countries of the globe, World Health Organization (WHO) has declared alert of the epidemic.
So far there were no reports of infection of man by the disease in the north eastern part of the country.