Yvonne Webb

There are four In­fluen­za A/H1N1 cas­es at the San Fer­nan­do Gen­er­al Hos­pi­tal, two of whom are crit­i­cal.The two pa­tients are be­ing treat­ed in the In­ten­sive Care Unit (ICU) while the oth­er two are on the ward.CEO of the South West Re­gion­al Health Au­thor­i­ty (SWRHA) Anil Go­sine said the two who were in the ward were do­ing well.He ex­plained un­der­ly­ing prob­lems pri­or to hav­ing the H1N1, such as res­pi­ra­to­ry or car­diac prob­lems, can make the ill­ness worse.

He said pa­tients need­ed to be aware of these prob­lems and take the nec­es­sary pre­cau­tions.Go­sine said an area of the med­ical ward has been con­vert­ed in­to a hold­ing bay for pa­tients sus­pect­ed of con­tract­ing the dis­ease, com­mon­ly known as swine flu.He said the area was iso­lat­ed and ful­ly equipped to han­dle any pa­tients com­ing in with the symp­toms as­so­ci­at­ed with the flu.

How­ev­er, Go­sine said there had not been a re­peat of the mad rush the Ac­ci­dent and Emer­gency De­part­ment ex­pe­ri­enced last week, fol­low­ing the an­nounce­ment by Health Min­is­ter Dr Fuad Khan that the dis­ease was here.The CEO said there was no epi­dem­ic.He said au­thor­i­ties were work­ing with the 2009 pro­to­cols and guide­lines which went in­to ef­fect when there was an out­break in that pe­ri­od.He said the vac­cines, which would have re­mained in stock from that pe­ri­od, have been reval­i­dat­ed by the man­u­fac­tur­ers up un­til next year.

New stocks were re­ceived on Mon­day and that new stock would have a shelf life for up to three years, he added.The vac­cines, how­ev­er, when in­ject­ed in­to the hu­man sys­tem on­ly lasts for one year. Go­sine said staff who had been vac­ci­nat­ed in 2009 would have the op­tion of be­ing vac­ci­nat­ed again.By to­mor­row or Fri­day, he said, the vac­cines would have been dis­trib­uted to all 31 health cen­tres and dis­trict fa­cil­i­ties with­in the SWRHA ju­ris­dic­tion and avail­able to the pub­lic.