News letter from Zeenews.com

Swine flu toll rises to 14; Nashik doctor, Pune woman succumb

Updated on Wednesday, August 12, 2009, 11:35 IST Tags:Swine flu, Pune, Nashik

Zeenews Bureau

Nashik/Pune: The death toll from Influenza A(H1N1) virus, or swine flu, rose to 14 on Wednesday with two deaths being reported from Maharashtra – one each in Pune and Nashik.

Rupesh Gangurde, a doctor at the Nashik Civil Hospital, died early this morning – the city’s first and the nation’s 14th victim from the swine flu virus.

The 38-year-old doctor died of the viral infection, sources at the Nashik Civil Hospital said. He was admitted to a private hospital on Monday after he complained of vomiting and fever, they said. His blood samples were sent to Pune for testing after which the report tested positive for H1N1.

Gangurde was brought last night to the Civil Hospital where he died at 02:30 hours, they said.

Shrawani Deshpande (29) was India’s 13th swine flu victim. She too died this morning at Pune’s government-run Sassoon General Hospital.

Shrawani died at 02:30 hrs following severe lung infection caused by the virus, attending doctors said. Shrawani, a resident of Kothrud area, was admitted to the Sassoon Hospital in a critical condition on August 10 after being referred from Sashwat Private Hospital, they said.

Earlier, a 35-year-old man had succumbed to the swine flu virus at the Sassoon Hospital late Tuesday. Sanjay Mistry, a resident of Pimpri, near Pune, was admitted to the hospital last Sunday in a critical condition and put on a ventilator.

The total number of swine flu casualties in Maharashtra has now gone up to 10. Two more people have died of swine flu in Gujarat and one each in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

Currently, there are five critical patients at Pune’s Sassoon Hospital, three at Delhi’s RML and another two at a Mumbai hospital.

Centre, states gear up

Meanwhile, as the Centre and the states intensified their battle against the infection, Central teams have been dispatched to all states and Union Territories after Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad chaired a meeting of 35 Additional Secretaries and Joint Secretaries drawn from various ministries who would fan out across the country.

He briefed the teams personally yesterday before they were dispatched to the state capitals.

While 14 Additional Secretaries would go to the big states, the Joint Secretaries would go to other states and Union Territories. The teams would stay there for two-three days and would return by August 15.

Azad also spoke to all Chief Ministers and told them to step up preparedness.

The Health Minister requested the Chief Ministers to chair the first meeting of these teams so that on-the-spot decisions are taken for swift implementation, a senior Health Ministry official said.