Civic hospital closes ICU ward created for H1N1 virus-afflicted for lack of patients
Civic hospital closes ICU ward created for H1N1 virus-afflicted for lack of patientsu00a0
The swine flu epidemic may finally be on the wane or so it looks like as per information received from the Yashwantrao Chavan Memorial (YCM) Hospital in Pimpri.
Sources said that not a single patient with H1N1 virus was registered in the YCM hospital in the last 29 days.
The last patient to undergo swine flu treatment was Paris Mallappa Lattimadi (31), who was admitted on October 13, and was cured. Currently, the ICU ward created for swine flu has been shut down, as there are no patients.
Treatment for swine flu was started in the city and Pimpri-Chinchwad at Sassoon hospital, Aundh hospital and YCM hospital from August 2010. Patients undergoing treatment came from Markal, Khed, Manchar, Junnar and Talegaon Dabhade.
The death toll from swine flu has reached 428. However, there was not a single death this month in the city and Pimpri-Chinchwad. Dr R R Iyyar, Medical Director at YCM hospital said the H1N1 epidemic was under control. "There was a drastic decrease of H1N1 cases in YCM hospital since August 2010. It was 366, 96 and six respectively in the last three months," he said. "There has been no single case since October 13."
Reeda Shaikh was the first swine flu victim on August 3, 2009 in the city. Later Franki Lalugea (26) a student of Spicer College lost his life, as he was infected by H1N1 virus and died on August 19.
The last patient to die of swine flu was Bharati Vinod Jadhav (30), a resident of Pimpri, on September 30, 2010. Of the 77 deaths 39 were males and 38 females. "Pregnant women were among the high risk group," Dr Iyyar said.
Dr A D Jagdale, Superintendent at YCM hospital said they had treated a total 1,461 H1N1 cases in the past 15 months. "We invested Rs 75 lakh to purchase ventilators for patients," he said.
