The death was reported on Monday and following investigations the Palike confirmed that it was a case of swine flu. The deceased was identified as Prema, a 51-year-old resident of Subbanna Gardens near Vijayanagar. She succumbed to the flu on February 9 at Apollo Hospitals where she was admitted for treatment, said a BBMP Official. With this, the death toll due to swine flu has gone up to seven in the City, in a span of two months.
The BBMP has sought a copy of the measures to be taken for swine flu prevention from the State’s health department. The same will be passed on to the medical health officers of all the eight zones of the BBMP.
“We have instructed all the health officers as well as MHOs to coordinate with the government as well as private hospitals to collect details of H1N1 cases regularly. We are also planning to put up posters at schools, colleges, anganwadi centres and BBMP hospitals to create awareness on swine flu,” said a BBMP health department official.
A round-the-clock BBMP help desk is set up at Dasappa Hospital. It received five calls of H1N1 enquiry, while a few calls were also answered on the Palike office lines. When fever and throat pain persist for over two days, the patient will be subjected to a throat swab test followed by admission to a BBMP referral hospital, said Medical Officer, D Sunitha.
The health department said that people can contact 080 2297 5684 to report or to know more about Swine flu.
According to the statistics provided by the health department, 131 positive confirmed cases have been reported across the State. As many as 12 confirmed deaths have come to light in 2015 alone.
A high total of 75 cases are from the BBMP limits. Three cases were reported in Bengaluru Urban and one in Chitradurga district. Two deaths were reported earlier this month in Davangere and one each in Gadag, Chitradurga and Vijayapura.
Minister U T Khader expressed displeasure over the measures taken by the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike Officials to curb the number of H1N1 cases. “Maximum number of cases have been reported in the Palike limits and needs to be looked into,” he said.