Is Pune rly station a swine flu time bomb?

Even as swine flu cases in the city cross the 100 mark, Pune railway station, which sees 9 lakh footfalls every day, and bus terminus have no screening facilities, while airport screens only international passengers

Even as swine flu cases in the city cross the 100 mark, Pune railway station, which sees 9 lakh footfalls every day, and bus terminus have no screening facilities, while airport screens only international passengers

Over 75,000 vehicles use the Mumbai-Pune Expressway on an average day. And lakhs of commuters travel between Mumbai and Pune the swine flu capital of India by train every day.

But is anything being done by state health authorities to stop infected passengers from travelling and hence spreading the virus?

Widespread apathy

The answer, worryingly, is no. The extremely crowded Pune railway station and bus stand have no swine flu screening facilities and no domestic passenger is being screened at the airport.
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Token efforts? A commuter reads a poster that lists swine flu symptoms at the Pune railway station.

Three days after the death of Reeda Shaikh (14) due to swine flu, the number of infected patients in Pune crossed 109.

The state government's swine flu awareness campaign continues to revolve around the contact tracing theory, which merely involves screening of people that some one who has tested positive has come in contact with.

This, when, according to the WHO, the disease is so contagious that a person within three feet of an infected individual can get infected.
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Harsha Shah, the chairperson of the Railway Pravasi Group, a commuters' rights organisation, said, "About 180 trains arrive and depart from Pune Station, including 12 Pune-Mumbai trains.
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The station gets nine to 10 lakh footfalls every day. Railway authorities are yet to erect a single board warning travellers about swine flu symptoms."

Pune Railway Division PR Officer YK Singh told MiD DAY, "We cannot screen every person. We did, however, publish newspaper ads listing out precautions people should take.
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We have also put up informative posters at the station, and are making precautionary announcements on the public address system."
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Infected screened

At the Pune airport, only persons from infected countries are being screened.

Pune airport sources said, "We are not screening domestic passengers. International travellers who shows signs of being infected are immediately sent for further tests."

Bus stands too

The situation is as bad at the Pune bus stand. There is no system to check or screen people with suspected symptoms.

Pune District Collector Chandrakant Dalvi admitted, "At the moment, there is no need of screening passengers at railway station or bus stands.

The PMC's awareness campaign has, however, increased the awareness of citizens about H1NI symptoms."

109
The number of patients infected in Pune