Govt tackling H1N1 doubtful

Himalayan News Service

KATHMANDU: The Ministry of Health and Population seems ill-prepared to combat potential rise in the cases of pandemic Influenza A (H1N1) in the winter.

Dr Nirmal Kandel, national programme officer of World Health Organisation said WHO Headquarters had already written to MoHP asking for the amount of vaccines the country would require in emergency. “We have started doing the needful on our own in this regard. The government is yet to respond to the letter,” he told The Himalayan Times. However, Dr Yashobardan Pradhan, spokesperson for MoHP, expressed his ignorance about the letter.

“WHO will get 200 million doses of swine flu vaccine by January from manufacturing companies with the assistance of developed countries,” added Kandel. He said the headquarters will distribute the vaccines on priority basis, considering poverty, vulnerability of the cases and Human Development Index. He added that the US government had promised to provide 10 per cent of vaccine it produced to WHO. He said WHO would provide MoHP with Tamiflu whenever such a request was made.

“Nepal has a slim chance of getting swine flu vaccine right now,” said Pradhan, adding that the number of vaccine being manufactured was far below the demand. “After cases of swine flu were confirmed in Nepal, we intensified preventive measures to curb the spread of the disease,” said Dr Pradhan.

Dr Jeetendra Man Shrestha, deputy coordinator of Avian Influenza Control Project, said they hoped to get swine flu vaccine by November-end. The vaccine has been available in the developed countries since the beginning of October.

He said they AICP would mobilise around 45,000 female community health and Red Cross Society volunteers to spread awareness about the disease. AICP has been collecting the samples of suspected swine flu patients from Chitwan, Kathmandu, Jhapa, Biratnagar and other areas.

“We are looking forward to getting the required set of equipment that WHO promised us earlier to treat severe cases of swine flu,” Shrestha said.

Obama declares swine flu emergency

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama has declared swine flu a “national emergency” as the United States reels from millions of cases of infection and more than 1,000 deaths. The emergency declaration, which was made public on Saturday, lets doctors and nurses temporarily bypass certain federal requirements so they can better handle a spike in influenza A(H1N1) patients. The declaration comes just days after Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius warned that demand was outstripping supply of vaccine for the novel flu strain. “The 2009 H1N1 pandemic continues to evolve,” Obama said in the declaration.

“The rates of illness continue to rise rapidly within many communities across the nation, and the potential exists for the pandemic to overburden health care resources in some localities.” US officials, however, said the declaration was not issued due to any specific development, but rather as a pre-emptive measure.

Among other things, the declaration gives Sebelius temporary authority to allow local authorities to set up makeshift emergency rooms to treat possible flu victims separate from regular patients.

In a note to Congress, Obama said the move was implemented “in order to be prepared in the event of a rapid increase in illness across the nation that may overburden health care resources.” At least 4,999 people have died from swine flu infections worldwide since April, when an outbreak was first reported in Mexico before rapidly spreading to the United States, according to the World Health Organization. — AFP