MULTAN/LAHORE: Three more patients of H1N1 seasonal influenza died in Multan’s Nishtar Hospital on Thursday, while the disease claimed another life in Lahore during the last 24 hours.

With the three more deaths, the disease’s toll rose to 37 in the south Punjab city.

Those who succumbed to H1N1 at Nishtar Hospital were identified as Amir Furqan, 44, Nasir, 40 and 50-year-old Daulat Bibi, of Khanewal.

All three of them were admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the hospital.

As per official record, so far 342 people showing H1N1 symptoms have been brought to the Nishtar Hospital, where 12 such patients were still under treatment. Of them, 10 are admitted to isolation room and two at the ICU.

The health officials, who had earlier confirmed death of 36 patients because of the disease, were now claiming that 35 of them had succumbed to H1N1, while the result of the blood sample of one deceased patient was awaited.

Meanwhile, a teenage boy died of H1N1 in Lahore, while seven more patients were tested positive for the disease in various healthcare facilities here during the last 24 hours.

Some 10 people with disease symptoms have been brought to various healthcare facilities during the last 24 hours in the provincial metropolis.

Ali, 14, died of H1N1 at the Ittefaq Hospital, Lahore, taking the death toll of the disease to four in the provincial capital, said an official of the Directorate General Health Services on Thursday.

Of the 125 people brought to various hospitals of the city so far with symptoms of H1N1, 38 tested positive for the disease and have been under treatment.

The official said that in order to expedite diagnostic process for the patients with H1N1 symptoms, viral transport medium kits had been provided to public sector hospitals in the province.

He said a focal person had been appointed at each hospital to collect suspected patients’ samples and send these to the Institute of Public Health for tests.

The report of the test would be provided to the hospital concerned within 24 hours, the official claimed.

Published in Dawn, January 26th, 2018