New Delhi, Aug 10 (Inditop.com) Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad Monday announced a string of measures to tackle the spread of swine flu that has killed six people and affected over 860 in India in the last three months.
The steps are:
* More thermal scanners at all international airports in the country, besides Delhi. They would be installed on an emergency basis.
* The national stockpile of Oseltamivir or Tamiflu will be increased by another 20 million capsules.
* The testing capacity of existing 19 designated laboratories would be doubled.
* Guidelines for granting approval to private diagnostic laboratories for testing influenza A H1N1 have been finalised and communicated to the states. Only labs that conform to these guidelines would be allowed to testing for influenza A (H1N1).
* Teams of senior officers from the central government will visit every state headquarter to assess the preparedness in terms of isolation capacity and clinical assessment in different hospitals both in the private and government sectors.
* To ensure availability of adequate testing reagents, it was decided that another 22,000 kits would be procured immediately in addition to the 27,000 kits recently procured.
* Three Indian companies are already working for development of vaccines for influenza A H1N1.
* It is for the states to decide about closure of schools after assessing the situation prevailing in the affected areas.
