Punjab - 19 fatalities this season, total 59

[Gert van der Hoek]

Punjab reports its first swine flu death

Submitted by Deepan Chawla

on Mon, 10/19/2009 - 07:35.


Mohali, Oct 19 : A 48-year-old woman who was suffering from swine flu died in a private hospital in this Punjab town, marking the first casualty due to the H1N1 virus in the state, a health official said here Monday.

"The patient was admitted to a private hospital here Sunday morning. As she was exhibiting symptoms of swine flu, we sent her throat and nasal swab samples to PGIMER (Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research) in Chandigarh for tests," Punjab nodal officer of swine flu Deepak Bhatia told IANS.

"Though, she died yesterday (Sunday) afternoon, we got her test reports late Sunday and she was tested positive," he added.

The woman was a resident of Solan town in Himachal Pradesh. Health officials have informed her family members.

Mohali is around 10 km from state capital Chandigarh.

http://www.topnews.in/punjab-reports-its-first-swine-flu-death-2225699

 

[Ronan Kelly]

Another swine flu death reported - Punjab

Another swine flu death reported - Punjab

Another swine flu death reported
TNN 7 November 2009, 09:38pm IST|

LUDHIANA: Another death due to swine flu was reported from the city on Saturday, triggering panic. The number of swine flu cases in the state has
now reached 39.

Patient Kunal, undergoing treatment at a private hospital, was suspected to be suffering from swine flu. Health department took samples on Wednesday but due to a technical fault, the department was not clear about the case and gave the deceased precautionary treatment. Samples were again taken on Thursday to confirm whether the patient was suffering from swine flu.

A few days back, a death due to swine flu was reported at a city hospital wherein the complainant had made allegations he had lost his son due to negligence and deficiency of service. Nodal officer Dr Deepak Bhatia said due to problem in the samples, PGI authorities had told district authorities to take samples again. Bhatia said after reports of swine flu came on Saturday afternoon and while the message about the reports was being conveyed to district health authorities, suspected case had expired.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...ne-flu-death-reported/articleshow/5207553.cms

 

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Punjab - Fatalities 2

Re: Punjab - Fatalities 2

Another swine flu-positive case
TNN 9 November 2009, 09:37pm IST
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LUDHIANA: After death of a city resident from swine flu, the health department has sprung into action to identify people who came in contact with
the deceased. The health department has identified 70 such people. Meanwhile, a swine flu-positive case was reported.

The patient Kunal, a BBA student, was undergoing treatment at a private hospital, but on Saturday, before reports confirming that samples were swine flu-positive came in, Kunal had died.

On Monday, the health department team visited the college where Kunal was studying, so as to trace all the students who came in contact with the deceased. A meeting was conducted on the death that was reported at a city hospital due to swine flu where the complainant had made allegations that his son lost his son due to negligence and deficiency of service on the part of the city hospital. Health officials recorded the statements of the doctors concerned.

Giving information, Dr Uggar Singh Sooch, district health officer, said the staff of the private hospital who came in contact with the deceased have been identified and as precautionary measure, treatment of the staff has been started.
Talking to The Times of India, Dr Deepak Bhatia , state nodal officer, said the health authorities are keeping a tab on the situation. One sample has already been sent for testing and reports are awaited. A swine flu-positive case was reported in Dayanand Medical College and Hospital on Monday.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...ine-flu-positive-case/articleshow/5213061.cms

 

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Punjab - Fatalities 2

Re: Punjab - Fatalities 2

Swine Flu claims life in Ludhiana

STAFF WRITER 16:22 HRS IST
Ludhiana, Nov 23 (PTI) A 27-year-old person belonging to Jalandhar, who was admitted here to the DMC Hospital for swine flu, died here today.
District health officer Dr US Sooch said that it was the second swine flu death in the city.

Daljinder Singh of Jalandhar was admitted to Dayanand Medical College and Hospital on November 13, after he was tested H1N1 positive on November 14, district health officer added.

Earlier, Harshita a 12-year-old patient, a native of Ludhiana died in Chandigarh after she was referred there, Sooch said.
http://ptinews.com/news/389977_Swine-Flu-claims-life-in-Ludhiana

 

[JimO]

Re: Punjab - Fatalities 17?

Re: Punjab - Fatalities 17?

Source: http://www.punjabnewsline.com/content/view/21270/138/

Woman dies of swine flu in Punjab
Punjab Newsline Network
Thursday, 26 November 2009

MOHALI: Mohali has witnessed its first death due to swine flu when about 50-year-old woman died at the GMCH, Sector 32, Chandigarh. Another student has tested positive for the H1N1 infection. The swine flu death toll has now reached 17.

Dr Deepak Bhatia, Punjab Nodal Officer, said here on Wednesday that Prem Lata, who lived in Sector 68, here, was first admitted in Indus Hospital and later shifted to GMCH, Sector 32, Chandigarh, when her condition deteriorated.

She had been tested positive for the H1N1 fever. Dr S.P.Surila, District Health Officer, said that the ICU of the Indus Hospital was sealed for three days and would be made functional only after proper sterilisation was done.

Patients had been shifted from the hospital. A list of 32 persons, who had come in contact with Prem Lata, both at home and at the Indus Hospital were being given the required medicine.

He said that Gaurav (9), a resident of Phase III A and student of Vivek School, was tested positive for swine flu on Wednesday.

 

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Punjab - Fatalities 3

Re: Punjab - Fatalities 3

Mohali woman falls victim to H1N1 flu
TNN 26 November 2009, 02:40am IST

MOHALI: The first swine flu death from Mohali was reported on Wednesday after a woman died at Government Medical College, Sector 32, Chandigarh,
where she was admitted on Tuesday evening.

Identified as Prem Lata, 55, of Darshan Vihar, Sector 68, the patient was first admitted in Indus Hospital at Phase IIIB-2 and was kept in the ICU, which has now been sealed and sterilized. Authorities said the unit would be opened only after clearance from state government. Around 30 people, including the woman?s family members and medical staff who attended on her, have been isolated and kept under observation.

Meanwhile, two more positive cases in Mohali district were detected on Wednesday. One one of them - a student of Vivek High School - is admitted in GMCH-32, Chandigarh. The student is a resident of Phase-IIIA. The other case is a seven-year-old girl from

Zirakpur. After Prem Lata?s death, district health authorities zeroed in on 30 people who had come in contact with her and put them under observation. The ICU was sealed on Tuesday evening after the sample test at PGI Chandigarh came out swine flu-positive. Mohali?s district health officer S P Surila said 10 members of the woman?s family, two doctors and two nurses, besides 10 others, had been detected as contact cases and their treatment had been started.

Surila said Prem Lata was admitted in Indus Hospital around a couple of days ago. ?Earlier, seven of her kin were established as contact members but the number has risen to 10,? he added. The managing partner of the private hospital, Ramandeep, said, ?The woman was kept in isolation at ICU and there was no other patient with her. Four staff members, including two doctors, have been put on medicines and the ICU has been sterilised and sealed.?
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...ls-victim-to-H1N1-flu/articleshow/5269527.cms

Ro's Note: Chandigarh is a Union Territory that serves as capital of both Haryana and Punjab. The total 17 in the previous post represents the total deaths from Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana.

 

[JimO]

Re: Punjab - Fatalities 3

Re: Punjab - Fatalities 3

Ro's Note: Chandigarh is a Union Territory that serves as capital of both Haryana and Punjab. The total 17 in the previous post represents the total deaths from Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana.

Thanks Ro. I was scratching my head over that.

 

[Roehl_JC]

Re: Punjab - Fatalities 3

Re: Punjab - Fatalities 3

Three students have tested positive for swine flu in the tricity. A Class I student of the Carmel Convent School has tested positive with a Class III student of the Government Senior Secondary School, Maloya.
The Maloya school has suspended both sections of Class III for ten days and Carmel Convent has suspended Class I and II till Saturday.

Also, a 15-year-old student of Vivek High School, who lives in Mohali, tested positive.Earlier, four positive cases were reported from the school.

Punjab?s nodal officer for swine flu Dr Deepak Bhatia said the boy lives in Phase VI. So far, 18 people in Mohali have been affected with the virus.

School authorities, who were not willing to come on record about the cases, said they were following ?strict? instructions of the Health Secretary to not reveal any information, ?as it could lead to panic?.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/t...sses-suspended-st-johns-sends-20-back/548378/

 

[Roehl_JC]

Re: Punjab - Fatalities 3

Re: Punjab - Fatalities 3

Chaos at hospital, attendants harried

Anupam Bhagria

Ludhiana As the injured were brought to the Christian Medical College and Hospital, following the clashes between radical Sikh bodies and police personnel today, tension prevailed on the hospital premises, especially near the entrance and outside the casualty ward, where Sikh groups were raising slogans against the state government.

Although a few senior persons tried to cool down the angry crowd armed with swords, baseball bats and rods, the mob did not relent. Amid the clamour stood the relatives of Darshan Singh, an auto-rickshaw driver, who died from bullet injuries in the morning. Darshan?s daughter Amarjit Kaur, who reached with her parents-in-law, was inconsolable. Her mother-in-law said, ?Darshan was the only breadwinner for the family. How will the family survive as Darshan?s two sons are also not married??

As two more injured reached the hospital around 2.30 pm, angry mob again entered the hospital and raised slogans like ? Vaheguru ji da khalsa vaheguru ji di fateh ? and rushed towards the casualty ward. Jaswant Kaur, a resident of Gill village, said,? My brother is admitted here. I came to meet him but now feel very tense as these youths are burning properties outside the hospital and waving swords. I do not know what to do.? With many people coming to the hospital to attend their ailing relatives, parking area was crammed and people kept asking security personnel about the way out. As the number of injured exceeded 10, protestors again entered the hospital and raised slogans.

A few persons, meanwhile, were seen making announcements for voluntary donations for the treatment of injured. Sarvinder Singh said: ?We have already collected Rs 80,000 from donations and purchased medicines of Rs 42,000 for the injured.?

One dies of swine flu

Dr Gautam Punj, a Khanna-based dental
surgeon, died from swine flu died at Christian Medical College and Hospital in the city on Saturday. The deceased's mother who had come from England is also suffering from the disease and has been admitted in the hospital. Dr Kamal Maseeh, Medical
Suprintendent of the CMCH, said,"His mother is critically sick. We have one more suspected patinet of swine flu."

http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/chaos-at-hospital-attendants-harried/550538/

 

[Roehl_JC]

Re: Punjab - Fatalities 3

Re: Punjab - Fatalities 3

CHANDIGARH/MOHALI: With the spread of H1N1 influenza not showing any signs of abating, 12 persons were detected positive for the flu on Saturday.

Of these, five cases were reported from Mohali alone. Three persons have fallen prey to the flu during the last few days.
UT nodal officer for swine flu H C Gera said an eight-year-old, a student of Class III at Ryan International School, was found infected with H1N1. The student?s parents are doctors. After the flu status was confirmed, the school suspended all sections of Class III for one week, the officer said, adding that students who used to travel in the patient?s bus had also been asked to remain home for the same period. A 25-year-old from Yamunanagar in Haryana also tested positive for the flu at PGI.

Meanwhile, UT officer Gera said five positive cases were reported from various parts of Punjab. These included a woman and her 15-day-old child. The mother gave birth to twins after which she developed symptoms of swine flu and on collecting the samples she tested positive, after which the newborns were checked and one was found infected. In Mohali, five persons were found infected with swine flu, taking the total number of positive cases to be detected in the district to 25. If those whose swab samples were sent to Chandigarh hospitals for testing are also taken into
consideration, the number would climb up to 37.

Of the five cases detected on Saturday, one is a nursing student at Fortis Hospital. Mohali district health officer S P Surila said the hospital had been asked to identify the contact cases.

DHO Surila said as there were 70 students in the nursing college, the hospital had been asked to find out if anybody had caught the infection. ??We have advised them not to let students attend to patients for their training programme and we?ve been assured full cooperation,?? the officer said. Of the remaining four cases, one case each was reported from Sector 69, Sector 67, Saini Vihar Baltana and Kurali.

In Sector 69, a 25-year-old woman was found positive. She is a staff nurse at PGI Chandigarh. From Baltana, a woman was found infected with H1N1, from Sector 67, a resident of Guru Har Sahai Society tested positive and her nine contact cases had been identified already. A 24-year-old youth from Kurali was also found infected. Surila said all the positive cases had been asked to contact the emergency department of civil hospital for their treatment.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...ow/5306177.cms

 

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Punjab - Fatalities 4

Re: Punjab - Fatalities 4

From #9 - The mother has now also died. I'll leave the fatality total at 3 pending confirmation.

Two suspected swine flu deaths in Ludhiana
STAFF WRITER 18:44 HRS IST
Ludhiana, Dec 6 (PTI) A woman who had returned from England a few days back and her son have died of suspected swine flu at Christian Medical College Hospital (CMCH) here.

According to family sources, the woman returned to live with her doctor son in Khanna near here.

She later showed swine-flu like symptoms and when her condition didn't improve, she was hospitalised, CMCH director A B Thomas said today.

"The mother-son duo were admitted to the hospital on Thursday in a very critical condition. Though their blood test report for swine flu is not yet out, keeping their symptoms in mind they were put on medication and ventilators. They breathed their last last night," he said.

He said two more suspected swine flu patients admitted to the hospital are also under observation.
http://ptinews.com/news/410743_Two-suspected-swine-flu-deaths-in-Ludhiana

 

[Roehl_JC]

Re: Punjab - Fatalities 3

Re: Punjab - Fatalities 3

MOHALI:

A day after a nursing student tested positive for H1N1 influenza, health authorities found that the patient was staying in a private hostel in Sector 71 along with 75 other youngsters, with three of them too getting the flu.

The hostellers study in different private nursing colleges of the city.

Apart from three roommates of the girl who were detected with H1N1, five others were found to be carrying flu symptoms. They were asked to undergo medical tests.

On Saturday, five H1N1 cases were reported from Mohali after which the health department launched an exercise to identify contact cases. On Sunday, a team visited the hostel and began treatment of the latest H1N1 patients. District health officer S P Surila said the hostel warden had been directed to quarantine students who had mingled with the flu patient.

??Only the contact cases will be quarantined and their parents have been asked to start their treatment,?? Surila added.

He said the hospitals where these students were training too had been urged to take necessary precautions. ??We?re checking if any of these girls came in touch with patients there,?? the officer said.

Surila said keeping in view the continuing violation of norms, fresh guidelines were being issued to private hospitals and educational institutions.

??People are taking the flu lightly and this is aggravating the problem. We have requested educational institutions to inform about the flu cases immediately to their nearest health officials so that action can be taken,?? he added.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...-in-Mohali-pvt-hostel/articleshow/5309337.cms

 

[Roehl_JC]

Re: Punjab - Fatalities 6

Re: Punjab - Fatalities 6

Three persons have died of swine flu in city hospitals in the last 24 hours. All victims are from Punjab.

The deceased are a 45-year-old man from Jalandhar, Harbhajan Singh, a 35-year-old woman from Hoshiarpur, Anju Bala, and 35-year-old man from Baltana, Varinder Kumar.

On Monday, Harbhajan came to PGI in extremely critical condition.

He died half-an-hour after his arrival. Similarly, Bala died 20 minutes after she was admitted in PGI.

Doctors at the hospital said condition of both the patients was severe, and they died before they could be put on ventilator.

The third victim died in Oxford Hospital, Sector 19. He was put on a ventilator for the last three days.

Varinder had tested positive on December 2.

His family reportedly wanted to shift him to PGI, but doctors refused, as the ?patient was already on life support system?.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Three-die-in-city-hospitals--five-more-test-positive/551263

 

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Punjab - Fatalities 3

Re: Punjab - Fatalities 3

Two city-based swine flu patients die in Ludhiana

STAFF WRITER 16:23 HRS IST
Jalandhar, Dec 13 (PTI) With two more swine flu deaths, the toll due to the viral disease, today rose to seven here at the Christian Medical College and Hospital, Ludhiana, where they were admitted recently.

The deceased patients were identified as Chahat Sanan (8) resident of New Model Town locality and Manjit Kaur (40) resident of Nijjran village, Dr Roop Lal, District Health Officer told PTI here today.
Both the patients were recently referred to CMC, Ludhiana by some private doctors, Dr Lal added.

"As soon as we got information about death of swine flu patients, a team of doctors conducted survey to look out for the people, with whom the patients came into contact," Dr Lal said adding that tamiflu tablets were distributed among them.

Till now seven H1N1 affected persons died in different hospitals including PGI, Chandigarh and CMC, Ludhiana, Dr Lal added.
http://ptinews.com/news/421448_Two-city-based-swine-flu-patients-die-in-Ludhiana

 

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Punjab - Fatalities 7

Re: Punjab - Fatalities 7

Swine flu claims life of two persons

STAFF WRITER 19:19 HRS IST
Chandigarh, Dec 14 (PTI) With cold conditions gripping the region, two more deaths have taken place due to swine flu, taking the total number of persons succumbing to the deadly viral disease to 26 in the city, officials said here today.

Jasbir Kaur of Amargarh village in Patiala district died at PGI here today, while Pawan Kumar also from Patiala died in the wee hours, city's swine flu Nodal officer Dr G C Bansal said here.

He said that six more cases with positive symptoms of swine flu were admitted to different designated hospitals in the city today.

The total number of positive swine flu cases admitted to various hospitals in the city has risen to 241. A total of 12 deaths have so far been reported from various parts of Punjab due to swine flu till date, state's Nodal Officer Dr Deepak Bhatia said.
http://ptinews.com/news/423372_Swine-flu-claims-life-of-two-persons

 

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Punjab - Fatalities 9

Re: Punjab - Fatalities 9

Schoolteacher among two H1N1 victims
TNN 17 December 2009, 05:20am IST
CHANDIGARH: Two persons, including a government school vice-principal, died of H1N1 in Punjab on Wednesday. While one belonged to Bathinda, the other was from Nabha.

The 57-year-old schoolteacher from Bathinda succumbed in CMC, Ludhiana, where she had been referred to two days back. Her death has prompted fears of the contagion spreading in the district, which had till now not reported even a single swine flu case. The day also saw another Bathinda resident testing positive and being put on ventilator at CMC, Ludhiana.

A 24-year-old Nabha youth died in PGI, where he was undergoing treatment for respiratory tract infection, officials said.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...mong-two-H1N1-victims/articleshow/5346009.cms

 

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Punjab - Fatalities 11

Re: Punjab - Fatalities 11

Swine flu death: DMCH gets a slap on the wrist for negligencePost CommentLarger | Smaller Anupam Bhagria
Tags : swineflu, DMCH
Posted: Thursday , Dec 17, 2009 at 0404 hrs

Mahinder Pal Singh, a resident of HIG flats of Raj Guru Nagar, has demanded from the Senior Superintendent of Police Dr S S Gill registration of a case of criminal negligence against Dr Ravinder Sharma of DMC&H for irresponsible behaviour while treating his sick son, Ajaypal Singh, and issue a show cause notice to the DMCH authorities for deficiency of medical services.

MP Singh, who is the chief manager in Punjab and Sind Bank, alleged, ?My only son, Ajay Pal Singh died because of the panic created in the name of swine flu and gross negligence and deficiency of medical services provided by DMCH and Hero Heart Institute. My son, Ajay pal Singh (32) was admitted in Shri Raghunath hospital due to fever and chest congestion, on October 4. After giving initial treatment, Raghunath hospital doctors referred the patient to DMCH stating that the patient was suspected of suffering from swine flue and other problems. He was admitted to DMCH around October 4. After two hours, the duty doctor shifted my son to emergency of Hero Heart Institute. On October 5 at about 4:30 pm, all of a sudden, the doctor on duty informed us that the patient was suspected to have swine flu and they cannot treat him in their hospital and forced us to shift him to PGI, Chandigarh. They did not listen to the request of Dr US Sooch, district health officer, who requested the hospital authorities to provide isolation for the patient and said that he would make arrangement for swine flu test and provide the necessary medicines also. The DMC doctor on duty refused to provide isolation to my son. Ultimately, we left for Chandigarh along with a doctor and attendants and on way to Chandigarh, we noted that my son was not put on ventilator and was being provided oxygen manually through a hand operated pump as the ventilator was not functional. At PGI, the doctors there examined my son and arranged swine flu test. But they informed me that I have brought him very late to PGI as he is in very critical condition. Unfortunately, my son died at about 1:30 am.?

MP Singh said, ?The media highlighted all this and the Punjab Human Rights Commission took suo moto notice of it and marked an enquiry to the state government. Following which a panel of three doctors, Dr Gurmeet Sigh, Dr GP Mangala and Tarminder Singh, conducted an enquiry and submitted a report to the state government as well as to the civil surgeon, Ludhiana.?



Showing the enquiry report, MP Singh said, ?In this report, Dr Raminder Sharma of DMCH has been reported as irresponsible as he was not aware that a patient suffering from swine flu should be kept in isolation. Dr Raminder has accepted it in cross examination. And it has been said that the patient should not have been shifted to PGI in a critical condition and DMC&H and HDHI are the part of same organisation, so the admission fee of the patient should not have been charged again.?



When contacted, Dr Sandeep Puri, Medical Superintendent DMCH , he said, ?I can comment only after going through the enquiry report.?
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/S...ets-a-slap-on-the-wrist-for-negligence/555244

 

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Punjab - Fatalities 11

Re: Punjab - Fatalities 11

Another swine flu death in Chandigarh, 13 new cases
December 17th, 2009 - 3:20 pm ICT by IANS -
Chandigarh, Dec 17 (IANS) A 23-year-old became the latest swine flu victim in Chandigarh that has reported 13 new H1N1 cases, health officials said Thursday.
?The deceased is a 23-year-old resident of Patiala in Punjab. We have informed the concerned authorities there and told them to quarantine the family members of the deceased and to medically examine them,? a Chandigarh health official said here.

In addition, 13 new positive cases of swine flu were reported in city hospitals Thursday.

?With the dip in the mercury, new swine flu cases have seen a sudden surge in this union territory. We had collected throat and nasal swab samples of these 13 patients on Wednesday and their reports are positive,? said the official.

These positive cases include five patients from various towns in Punjab and four each from Chandigarh and Haryana.



Read more: http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal...h-13-new-cases-2_100290655.html#ixzz0ZwCXlX0j

 

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Punjab - Fatalities 12

Re: Punjab - Fatalities 12

Punjab earmarks 5 centres for swine flu treatment
Punjab Newsline Network
Thursday, 17 December 2009
CHANDIGARH: With number of swine flu cases increasing in the Punjab with the advent of the winter, Punjab government earmarked five centres for the treatment of the disease besides deciding to launch an awareness campaign in government schools.

State Health Minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla on Wednesday held a high-level meeting to review preparations to tackle the disease during which it was decided to earmark five centres in Mohali, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Amritsar and Bathinda for the treatment of patients rather than referring them to private hospitals.

The minister said these centres would be in addition to medical colleges in the state, which already had facilities to treat such cases.

She said while 75 ventilators at disposal of the department would be able to cover all suspected cases coming in as of now, there was a shortage of anaesthetists, who would be taken from medical colleges if need be. She said adequate trained para-medical staff would be posted at all centres.

The minister said isolation wards had been created at all hospitals in the state besides announcing a change in policy in the distribution of Tami Flu medicine. She said the medicine would now be first given only to the primary family unit and the dose would also vary for children and adults.

Meanwhile, today?s review meeting revealed that the swine flu fatality figure in the state has risen to 14. However, four of these deaths could not be definitely attributed to swine flu. In all, 114 suspect cases have been detected in the state till now with many of these persons still undergoing treatment.

The Health Department has decided to conduct an aggressive awareness campaign on swine flu at government schools besides taking the help of alternative medicine systems like ayurveda.

The department is also taking the help of the Ayurved Department to provide traditional medicines to children besides checking their HB count.

http://www.punjabnewsline.com/content/view/21867/38/

 

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Punjab - Fatalities 14

Re: Punjab - Fatalities 14

Suspected H1N1 victim?s kin lock up medics
Neel Kamal, TNN 18 December 2009, 06:31am IST

LONGOWAL: The fear of H1N1 contagion spreading its tentacles in the region prompted high tension drama at the residence of Ashwani Kumar, a 35-year-old barber from Longowal who died of suspected swine flu on way to PGI, Chandigarh, on Thurday. His death agitated the members of his family so much that they locked up a team of medics which had come to their residence for their medical examination.

Not stopping at that, they led their neighbours and relatives in laying siege to a primary health centre in protest against the ?cold and apathetic response? of the senior medical officer to their queries regarding the cremation.

The agitating assemblage relented only after the intervention of Sangrur SDM Upkar Singh and police, even as officiating chief medical officer HS Bali led a team of doctors in holding peace parleys and examining the family members for flu symptoms.

The incident happened on Thursday, beginning with Kumar?s death in the wee hours.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...ms-kin-lock-up-medics/articleshow/5350127.cms