Medicos to collect flu data

The survey, which was started on Sunday, is being conducted by Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), Health Department, Bangalore Urban and Preventive and Social Medicine Department at present.

The decision was taken during a meeting held by the Department of Health and Family Welfare, with the representatives of state and government hospitals, on Tuesday.
"This way, we will be able to cover each area in the City and finish the survey as soon as possible," said an official from the Health Department.

Although the invitation for the meeting was sent to many hospitals including Command Hospital, few turned up for the meeting. The official said that people from Railway hospital, BBMP, one of the government medical colleges and Health department attended the meeting. As for the number of the students who will be enrolled for this survey, the official said that the Preventive and Social Medicine Department would look into this. Meanwhile, Railway Hospital and Command Hospital will start screening the general public too, said another official.

Awareness messages

In addition to this, the Health Department has also sent awareness messages to private practitioners and have specifically told them to refer any person who does not recover from  Influenza like symptoms, even after consultation, to BBMP or government hospitals.

Notification

Although the Union Health Department has decided on distributing Tamiflu tablets - the only drug available in India for the treatment of H1N1 Influenza - in retail outlets across the country, the Drugs Controller's office in the State has not received any notification.
Dr B R Jagashetty, Drugs Controller for Karnataka, said, "Once we get the notification from the Government of India, we will see how to implement it. However, in the interest of the people, we will insist on having at least two retail outlets with Tamiflu tablets in each district." At present, the department is making a list of drug stores, which have the license to sell Schedule X drugs.

Psychotropic drugs

He further added that the Schedule X drugs, which are mainly psychotropic drugs, are rarely bought by the people. There are 15 medicines that fall under this category including Amobarbital, Amphetamine, Barbital, Cyclobarbital, Dexamphetamine, Ethclorvynol, Glutethimide, Meprobamate, Methamphetamine, Methylphenidate, Methylphenobarbital, Pentobarbital, Phencylidine, Phenometrazine and Secobarbital. 

DH News Service