Punjab Government notifies swine flu under Epidemic Disease Act

March 18, 2016

Punjab Government has notified swine flu (H1N1) under the Epidemic Disease Act to prevent the spread of disease in the state.
In the regard, Health and Family Welfare Department of state has issued notification based on recommendations of state advisory committee headed by Dr. D Behera.
Key highlights of notification

All government and private hospitals in state will have to inform the Health Department about a case of ILI (Influenza like Illness) having chronic diseases.
Such medical cases should be treated as early as possible and proper guidelines of the government should be followed.
All hospitals within state will have to keep suspected as well as confirmed cases (patients) of swine flu in isolation in order to contain the spread of the disease.
It will be mandatory for all hospitals to inform the Health department in case a suspected or confirmed case of swine flu is reported.
For all the patients infected by swine flu, treatment will be provided free of cost as recommended by the Government.

Background
Dr. D Behera advisory committee had observed that swine flu (H1N1) patients in state who have suffered from other chronic diseases had a high mortality rate as compared to patients who did not have chronic diseases. It also had mentioned that patients who were treated by private doctors were referred to higher centres only after they became critical, which had increased the death rate.
Swine flu (swine influenza):

It is a respiratory disease caused by viruses (influenza viruses) that infect the respiratory tract of pigs.
H1N1 (Hemagglutinin Type 1 and Neuraminidase Type 1) is the subtype of influenza A virus that was the most common cause of human influenza (flu).
Its common symptoms are nasal secretions, a barking cough, decreased appetite and listless behaviour.

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