Terrified doctors are sending all patients with flu like symptoms to Dr Naidu Hospital but the hospital wont check anyone who has not travelled abroad; citizens have no other way of confirming if they have swine flu
Terrified doctors are sending all patients with flu like symptoms to Dr Naidu Hospital but the hospital wont check anyone who has not travelled abroad; citizens have no other way of confirming if they have swine fluu00a0
If you contract fever, cold and cough, the only way you can be sure that it is not swine flu is by getting yourself screened for the H1N1 virus. The catch is that general practitioners and even major hospitals are too scared to have anything to do with you. Moreover, they don't have the wherewithal to screen you for swine flu, so all they are doing presently with anyone who has any flu-like symptoms is sending them to the PMC-run Dr Naidu Hospital. Naidu will however not entertain you unless you can prove that you have recently returned from a foreign country like Holland or Germany that is in the grip of the swine flu epidemic.u00a0
Anup Barua (58) took his wife, a techie, to Jehangir Hospital, where Reeda Shaikh (14) died of swine flu recently. Barua was asked to take his wife, who has severed flu symptoms, to Dr Naidu hospital. Barua did so only to be turned away from Dr Naidu Hospital as well.
"Dr Naidu Hospital of Infectious Diseases won't screen my wife because they say she has not visited any foreign country. They don't realise that she is equally at risk because many of her colleagues travel abroad. I am in a dilemma. Where do I take her?" said Barua.u00a0
Barua's problem is not unique. Scores of people suffering from cough, cold and fever, have been turned away by general practitioners because the doctors suspected that they could be infected with swine flu. Yesterday, the police had to be called in after some citizens jumped the queue and tried to forced their way in.
Pune Municipal Commissioner Mahesh Zagade blamed general practitioners for the large queues outide Dr Naidu Hospital. "Instead of treating simple cold and cough symptoms, general practitioners are advising them to visit Naidu Hospital. What is shocking is that in one case, a person who had fever following a kidney transplant operation was also sent by his doctor here. Not every fever is due to H1N1. I am going to hold discussions with general practitioners as they have a moral duty towards the patient not to create panic."
Dr Avinash Bondwe, former president of Indian Medical Association, said, "It is not that general practitioners are afraid of swine flu. However, they do not want to cause any delay in treatment, as timely detection is very important in treating swine flu. This is why the IMA has directed all general practitioners to refer suspected cases to Naidu Hospital.
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