SWABI, Jan 5: The number of swine flu patients has climbed to eight in Swabi district and presently 20 other patients are also under observation in the isolation ward established at Shahmansoor Hospital Complex (SHC), said health officials.

They said that the World Health Organisation (WHO) surveillance staff has sent blood samples of four more patients to the National Institute of Health, Islamabad for examination.

People's Primary Healthcare Initiative (PPHI) has, meanwhile, launched awareness programme in the region to curb the swine flu disease. Dr Amjad Mahbub of the PPHI briefed the SHC staff during a presentation about the outbreak of the disease, its diagnosis, symptoms and prevention.

He said that the eight confirmed cases of swine flu were from different areas, including Kotha, Gabasni, Cheknodeh, Kala, Maneri Payyan and Panjpir.

Dr Mahbub said that anti-swine flu vaccine had been provided to the health department, which would be given only to the hospital staff. He said that if more vaccine was provided to the department, it would be given to common people.

However, people have been demanding provision of the vaccine because they wanted to protect themselves from the swine flu.

The participants were told that the NIH officials had conveyed to the district health officers that all cases from the swine flu regions should be considered positive and blood samples of patients from only new regions could be sent for confirmation.

Saidul Amin, PPHI district support manager, said that the main focus of awareness campaign was to educate people on preventive measures. The officials said that that the campaign was imperative for coping with the increasing number of swine flu cases reported from six different regions of the district.

“We have arranged an awareness session for paramedic staff working at basic health units (BHUs). “We want to enable the BHUs staff to tackle the swine flu issue,” said Mr Amin. It has been learnt that the district health authorities wanted provision of anti-swine flu vaccine for 2,000 people.