KARACHI: The health department has issued a swine flu alert in Sindh in the backdrop of more than 1,200 deaths caused by the disease in India.

“The alert has been issued to face any health crisis,” health officials. All major hospitals in Sindh had been directed to get their isolation wards ready to cope with an emergency situation, they said.

More than 23,000 swine flu cases have been reported at various hospitals in India in the recent weeks and the state of Gujarat recorded over 300 deaths.

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The federal government has asked the Sindh authorities to ensure that the borders were duly guarded and all necessary measures were in place to stop the outbreak from crossing the border.

Sindh special secretary for public health Dr Khalid Shaikh told Dawn that all district, taluka and teaching hospitals had been advised to carefully diagnose and treat patients with flu and ensure shifting of suspected H1N1 swine influenza cases to isolation wards. They had also been directed to report any such case immediately to the health department, he added.

Dr Shaikh, however, confirmed that no such case had been reported from any part of Sindh so far.

Published in Dawn March 7th, 2015

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