Pregnant women will be put on a course of Tamiflu only after they test positive for influenza H1N1, the BMC announced on Wednesday. Manisha Mhaiskar-Patankar, the additional municipal commissioner, said pregnant women will be given priority. “We will try to get their reports within 24 hours,” she said. Doctors at BMC hospitals and screening centres have been instructed to monitor pregnant women who have been given Tamiflu. “The possibility of the anti-viral drug reaching the foetus through the placenta is significantly high when a pregnant woman is in the third trimester.”
Government officials too said in most cases doctors have managed to save either the child or the mother. “We are trying to find out why this is happening,” Sharvaree Gokhale, the additional chief secretary, public health, said. “We are informing families of patients before taking any decision.”
There was a dip in swine flu cases before and during the Ganpati festival, Gokhale said. “Now, the number of people seeking admission to hospitals has gone up,” she said. “We are yet to compile figures on that. We cannot say that the epidemic is under control in the state.”
BMC figures say at least 700 people have sought admission to public and private hospitals for influenza H1N1. And 498 people have been admitted to BMC hospitals.
As a precautionary measure to stop swine flu from escalating during winter, the BMC has planned to allow teachers, public health, and school education department to screen children. “Each and every kid will be screened for symptoms of swine flu after Diwali,” Mhaiskar-Patankar said. Also, the BMC is planning to study the side-effects of Tamiflu on children below 12.
