50,000 students are expected at Malhar and Umang next week, many from Pune. But organisers have dangerously little planned to check for swine flu.
50,000 students are expected at Malhar and Umang next week, many from Pune. But organisers have dangerously little planned to check for swine flu.
Even as colleges in the city prepare to host celebrity guests and tens of thousands of participants from outstation colleges, organisers are at sea on how to cope with the potential dangers posed by swine flu.
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Two of the city's most popular college festivals, Umang and Malhar hosted by N M College and St Xavier's College respectively, have not considered any precautionary strategies to deal with visitors who may have swine flu symptoms.
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Umang chairperson Raj Desai said, "We are merely cautioning visitors to avoid food sold from stalls outside the venue to avoid contracting jaundice and malaria. Screening over 40,000 participants is not feasible.
However, since you have brought this to our notice, we will ask persons displaying flu symptoms to stay away."
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Malhar spokesperson Vrushali Karnik said they had no swine flu guidelines either. "This is a call all participating contingents have to take.
There has been no official communication about keeping participants with swine flu symptoms away.
We haven't issued any guidelines on restricting visitor entry as yet," said Karnik, who added Malhar attracts 25,000 participants every year over Independence Day weekend.
Dr Frazer Mascarenhas, principal, St Xavier's College, however, said that internal advisories had already been issued. "Any student feeling ill is advised to stay home.
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But we see no reason for taking steps like fumigation," he said. "We can only advise caution in such cases," said Dr D S Dakhure, director, health services, Maharashtra.
"However the decision to hold or postpone such events is not in our hands. The public and participants must take precautions to keep themselves free from infection."
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On Thursday, a student from an Andheri school tested positive for the H1N1 virus. Following the test, the school premises were fumigated to curb infection.
In Pune, Symbiosis University was closed for a week when a female student tested positive for the H1N1 virus yesterday.
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