Click to play videoMumbai: While the spread of swine flu remains a big concern, the larger worry is who to go to when you suspect such symptoms. Rida Shaikh - the girl who died of swine flu in Pune - had first contacted a private practitioner. But are General Practitioners aware enough of the symptoms?
Santosh a driver has brought his son twelve-year-old Swapnil who's running a fever for a checkup in central Mumbai. He says doesn't want to take any chances.
"I fear for him because people are saying that swine flu is in the air," says Santosh.
At another clinic in South Mumbai, Malabar Hill resident Dina Desai is worried about her son who got back from a school alumni meet near Pune.
"He complained of sore throat and headache. The first thing that occurred to me was could it be H1N1," says she.
After swine flu claimed 14-year-old Rida in Pune, common complaints like fever and sore throat have got parents worried. But physicians, despite Government norms, hesitate to send parents to designated hospitals, even if they suspect swine flu.
Private Practioner, Dr D K Chaudhary says, "Kasturba hospital is like a dharamshala. There is no proper management, doctor or treatment."
Ironically the state government is also now turning to private practitioners to help counter the spread of the disease and to help spread awareness.
Assistant Director of Health, Govt of Maharashtra, Dr Ravindra Katti says, "We have now been requesting private practitioners to help distinguish between and swine flu and other cases of common flu."
But physicians say it's tough to distinguish between H1N1 and other flus. They prefer to wait and see if antibiotics are working - which in turn means crucial time ticking away for anybody with swine flu.
The question is - has your first line of defence, the General Practitioner, been adequately trained to deal with the possible pandemic? If not, the battle against swine flu will become hard to win.
FLU CASES UPDATE
Several new cases of swine flu have been confirmed across the country. At last count the number was crossing 600 as 22 new cases came to light on Thursday.
Pune has reported nine new cases, including four school students who contracted the virus from previously positive cases.
Five new cases have been reported in Delhi, while four people contracted the virus from previously positive cases; the fifth case is a 19-year-old girl who returned to India from Singapore.
Mumbai too recorded four new positive cases - all of them had recently returned from trips abroad.
Two new cases have come to light in Chennai, where a two-year-old returning from Australia was detected in airport screening and a three-year-old has already been admitted in the hospital.
Karnatkaa also recorded two new cases - a 21-year-old Malaysian student in Mangalore who returned from Kuala Lumpur recently and a 32-year-old man who flew in from the US.
In Hyderabad, there has been one new case of a 13-year-old girl who contacted the virus from a previously positive case.
The first positive case in Jamshedpur was recorded on Thursday, a 21-year-old man who returned to Ranchi from UK recently.
In Punjab, two new cases have been reported, one each in Hoshiarpur and Gurdaspur.
Three new cases have been reported in Gurgaon - two of them are students who contacted the virus from previously positive cases while the other is 31-year-old woman who travelled to Bangkok recently.
However, of the 602 positive cases reported so far, 482 have been discharged.
(With inputs from Prachi Kulkarni in Pune)
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