’Mumbai is ready to tackle swine flu’

Pretending to be a patient, reporter Varun Singh visited city's Kasturba Hospital. He came out satisfiedYESTERDAY afternoon, as I walked into the outpatient ward of the government-run Kasturba Hospital, Mumbai's nodal centre to handle epidemics, coughing and wheezing, I was immediately asked to register myself and fill a few forms.The paperwork was completed in just about 15 minutes and I was handed a receipt, and asked to visit a general practitioner. At Work: The reporter with his prescriptionHe thoroughly examined me and wrote out a prescription for cold and cough. When I pestered the doctor to check whether I was suffering from the H1N1 virus, which causes swine flu, he asked if I had visited any foreign country recently. At my negative reply, he said confidently, You are not suffering from the disease. We only take people who are directly brought in from the airport and if they have visited a foreign country.The situation was even better at Ward No 30, the one reserved for swine flu patients. With 16 beds, the ward is the most protected in the hospital and the administration claimed its quaran- tine was watertight. Suspec-ted patients are directly taken to Ward No 30. Even we are not informed, said a doctor from the hospital, on condition ofu00a0 anonymity. Umesh Aigal, medical superintendent of the hospital, did not allow us a sneak peek into the ward. I let out a sigh of relief as I walked out.