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Pakistan:?Flu victim? flees from hospital
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
?Flu victim? flees from hospital
By Nauman Tasleem
LAHORE: ?We do not want further medical treatment of our patient because her illness may be misreported as bird flu and people and our relatives will boycott us,? a Jinnah Hospital doctor quoted a family member of a patient who was admitted a couple of days ago for the treatment of flu, high fever and pneumonia.
The family, residents of Awan Town, not only left without getting their patient Mrs Wajid discharged from the hospital but also did not bother to get the results of her medical test. Dr Rizwan, registrar of Jinnah Hospital Medical Ward 4, told Daily Times that Mrs Wajid was admitted to the hospital on Saturday because of high fever and flu. He said the doctors diagnosed Mrs Wajid with pneumonia. ?We gave her antibiotics and she started recovering. However, we decided to take her blood samples to test her for bird flu because according to Mrs Wajid?s medical history her maid Sughran had flu and rashes on her body when she returned from her village,? said Dr Rizwan, adding that Mrs Wajid also had rashes on her body.
He said the family had initially refused the doctors from taking Mrs Wajid?s blood samples but later agreed on letting them do so. However, this incident was reported in a section of the press. ?The newspaper reported that Mrs Wajid might have contracted the bird flu virus. This panicked the family and they left the hospital,? Dr Rizwan said. He added that hospital authorities had sent Mrs Wajid?s samples to the laboratory.
Dr Rizwan said Mrs Wajid had started recovering when she left the hospital, adding that her family did not wait for the tests? result saying that they did not want people to isolate them for having a bird flu patient. ?Whether or not it is bird flu, our neighbours, relatives and people will boycott us. It is better that we leave the hospital rather than be treated in this way,? said Mazhar, a hospital employee, quoting a member of Mrs Wajid?s family.