Bihar government has set up rapid response teams (RRTS) to prevent and check outbreak of swine flu, according to state health minister NK Yadav.
"We have constituted RRTS to take preventive measures to contain outbreak of swine flu in Bihar. The teams will provide necessary information about H1N1 infection to district health centres and also distribute anti-dotes, if required," Yadav told PTI here.
The state government had also decided to open two virology labs, one each in Patna and Darbhanga, to diagnose viral diseases, he said. Adequate arrangements are being made to prevent the outbreak of the disease during the Pitripaksh mela in Gaya, the minister said.
"Arrangements will be made for screening devotees coming from different parts of the country and authorities will be extra vigilant as lakhs of people, also drawn from H1N1 affected, are likely to visit Gaya during the 15-day long-mela beginning from September 3," he said.
Yadav said a 100 bed ward at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) had also been blocked for suspected swine flu patients, besides a 10 bed ward in every medical colleges hospitals in the state.
Special arrangements have also been made for screening of tourists coming to Bihar from porous Indo-Nepal borders and visiting other tourist places, including Bodh Gaya -- a key pilgrim centre in the Buddhist circuit.
Special teams were being constituted to screen visitors with symptom's of flu-passengers coming from Maharashtra and Karnataka to Gaya, which have reported maximum number of swine flu cases, he said.
Of several samples sent for test at a laboratory in New Delhi, only one case of an IAS officer from Bihar, has so far been tested positive. Official sources said up till now 690 people had been screened in the state and most of them had no no swine flu symptoms.
