Swine flu hits Jaipur hard, east, north Rajasthan ‘spared’

JAIPUR/JODHPUR: Swine flu in the state assumed new dimension with the National Law University in Jodhpur declaring holiday as a precautionary measure after a student of the institution was found infected with the virus on Monday. However, the administrative staff will have to report for duty.
“We have decided to suspend classes in the university for next 10 days from Wednesday,” said registrar of the university Sohan Lal Sharma.
Swine flu deaths in Jodhpur reached 20, according to the website of the health department, after two more patients died on Tuesday afternoon while 275 persons have tested positive in Jodhpur so far. The toll figure in the state due to the flu reached 183 including three at the SMS hospital.
Health department officials said that 286 fresh cases have been reported on Tuesday alone from across the state. The figure on Monday stood at 447.
Going by the trend the impact of swine flu has been less in eastern and northern Rajasthan while making a dent in the central, southern and western part of the state. Eastern Rajasthan covers Bharatpur division and includes districts like Karauli, Sawai Madhopur and Dholpur. The division has reported just one death in 2015 while 43 persons have tested positive. The northern districts, covering Bikaner division including districts of Bikaner, Churu, Sriganganagar and Hanumangarh has reported eight deaths while 78 have tested positive.
Jaipur has become an epicenter of swine flu in Rajasthan with the SMS hospital alone admitting 21 fresh patients to the ICU, 24 in isolation ward, 11 under observation by Tuesday afternoon. A total of 40 deaths have been reported from SMS hospital from January 2015, the highest so far in the county from any hospital.
The hospital is the main treatment centre for not only patients from the city but also from other parts of the state and outside.
The only district left out from the impact of the flu is Sirohi, in the southern part of the state, from where not a single positive case has been reported so far.
Other districts which have swine flu positive patients in single digits are Baran (7), Pratapgarh (7), Dholpur (7), Hanumangarh (9) and Sawai Madhopur (9). Other than Jaipur, which has recorded the highest with 31 casualties, Ajmer with 25, Jodhpur with 20 and Nagaur with 18 casualties follow suit.
The situation is alarming in Jaipur with 1,249 positive cases, Ajmer with 131, Jodhpur with 275 and Kota with 442 cases. Health officials said that maximum number of cases have been coming from urban centres, as per figures available on officials website of the health department.
In Jodhpur, the SN Medical College administration has also roped in some retired doctors to deal with the growing menace. According to the principal of the medical college, Ami Lal Bhat, these doctors have remained closely associated with the outbreak of the swine flu in Jodhpur before their retirement last year.
Sources said that a team of experts from Delhi which visited SMS hospital has asked health officials here to focus more on the prevention as the mortality rate during the treatment is quite high.