The deadly H1N1 virus, which has already taken two lives in Ahmedabad and Vadodara, struck the diamond city on Thursday with five cases being confirmed. The samples of the five suspected cases had been sent to NICD.
Despite the confirmation, all are being treated at their homes by a team of doctors, appointed by New Civil Hospital. Meanwhile, 21 more suspects with symptoms of swine flu cropped up during the ongoing check-up.
Dr MK Wadhel, superintendent of New Civil Hospital, said: “Five patients, who were suspected to have swine flu, have tested positive. This has been confirmed by the NICD report, which found presence of H1N1 virus in their blood and other samples.”
“We have allowed all the five patients to stay at home and their treatment will continue there. They will be shifted to hospital if their health deteriorates during treatment. Before discharging them from hospital, we have provided chemotherapy to them, while routine treatment has been started as well,” Wadhel said.
Out of five, four patients are from Surat and one patient is from Gandevi in Navsari district. All patients are men and had visited Mumbai and Pune for one reason or another. Two patients are of 18 years, while eldest patient is 52 years. The other two patients are aged between 40-42 years.
Meanwhile, the long queue of Surtis continued outside the hospital for check-up on Thursday. In all, 21 more suspected cases with symptoms of swine flu were detected by the doctors. With these, the total number of suspected cases has reached 40 in the city.
State forest and environment minister Mangu Patel chaired a meeting at collector’s office to take stock of the preparedness of district administration and SMC. He reviewed the arrangements of respective departments and asked officials to take necessary steps to prevent the spread of deadly virus in the city.
“We are taking all necessary steps to create awareness among citizens. Medical camps are being organised across various parts of the city and in the district so that no one suffering from swine flu symptoms is left unattended,” district collector Dilip Raval said.
