Work in the department comes to a standstill with its chief testing positive for the virus.
With the principal health secretary (state), Ravi Saxena declared swine flu (H1N1) positive, the state’s health department seems to have gone ‘cold’. The health department seemed like a haunted place where hardly any people were seen moving around.
According to sources many top officials of the state health and family welfare department have been asked to stay at home with fear of getting infected with virus.
Saxena, who registered H1N1infection symptoms two days ago on Tuesday, was declared positive the next day. However, he is stable and doing good, sources close to Saxena said, after chest x-ray and CT scan was done on him on Thursday. Saxena is home quarantined for seven days and was prescribed Tamiflu tablets for 10 days, sources added.
According to health department’s internal information, the health commissioner has asked some of the officials who had come in close contact with Saxena, to stay at home too. The list includes names like deputy director epidemic for state, SJ Gandhi, deputy director (health) Dr Paresh Dave and Civil hospital’s chief physician, Dr Vora along with a few others.
On the other hand, health department is under H1N1 siege, fear of the virus spreading like a wild fire in the power corridors. Sources also added that close to 40 people were tested for H1N1 viral infection in the Sachivalaya on Thursday including the health department officials and almost all of them have tested negative. Many of the employees’ throat swabs have been sent to the BJ Medical College for the H1N1 test to ascertain their status.
On the administrative front, deputy director, epidemic, Dr M Prajapati, has been given the charge in place of Dr Gandhi, who is under home quarantine.
A doctor on condition of anonymity told DNA, that chances of getting category-A patients are more. People falling in category A are in their initial stage of H1N1. But they hardly show any symptoms, which is why they are at risk of spreading the infection.
Apart from this around four people have been tested H1N1 positive and all of them are directly or indirectly related to health care industry, a senior health department official told
DNA, on condition of anonymity. With this the total number of positive patients in the state has reached to 289 on Thursday.
The million dollar question that is assailing every mind — where did Saxena get the infection? Was it from the CM? According to sources, Saxena was in Delhi to attend his son’s wedding and may have contacted the virus there. But the jury is out.
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