After 2 years, Valley’s exclusive swine flu ward coming up

Adil Lateef
Srinagar, Dec 29: After almost two years, the Valley’s exclusive swine flu ward is near completion at Government Chest Disease (CD) Hospital in Dalgate area and would be commissioned next week.
The work on swine flu ward at Chest Disease Hospital began in March 2015 and it was slated to be inaugurated in November 2015. However, the first deadline of the completion of the ward was missed as the pace of work slowed down due to some official decisions. However, there was no dearth of funds as Rs 5 crore were allotted for this special ward.
Principal Government Medical College (GMC) and Associated Hospitals, Dr Kaiser Ahmad, told Excelsior that now the exclusive swine flu ward is almost complete and would be commissioned next week. “This is the first respiratory ward in Kashmir on scientific lines. The work on it is near completion and hopefully next week we will make it functional,” he added.
The GMC Principal said the ward will have an isolation space comprising of 20 beds, a BSL lab (level) and central oxygen supply. “We are hopeful that this special ward would cater to our patient needs,” he said, adding that in addition to this the National Board of Examinations (NBE) recently approved four seats of DNB course in Respiratory Medicine at CD Hospital and the PG students will give them additional backup to improve the facilities at the hospital.
With the exclusive swine flu ward finally being commissioned next week, it is now being expected that in case of any outbreak of H1N1 virus in Valley, the doctors would be able to cure patients affectively and prevent loss of lives. Dozens of H1N1 affected persons died after the outbreak of deadly virus in Valley in the months of January and February 2015.
However, Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) president and H1N1 expert, Dr Nisar-ul-Hassan said the exclusive swine flu ward will only serve its purpose if it has negative pressure enabled isolation ward and BSL negative pressure lab fitted with High-Efficiency Particulate Arrestance (HEPA) filters. “The negative pressure isolation prevents virus from spreading which is an important thing in curbing H1N1,” he added.
Dr Nisar said that in Kashmir there should be separate clinics for flu treatment in all hospitals including Lal Ded Maternity Hospital having dedicated beds and dedicated ventilators. “The flu virus including that of H1N1 thrives in freezing temperature and given the present climatic situation we in Kashmir should be equipped with all these facilities,” he said, adding “unfortunately we have been lacking even basic things but let’s hope for good changes in the near future.”

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here