India Seeks Help in Dealing with H1N1 Virus
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Sinlung
Federal health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad addressed the issue in the Rajya Sabha, upper house of the Indian parliament on Friday the 7th.
[Ghulam Nabi Azad, Indian Health Minister]:
"We are now in touch, the Director General of health, is now in touch with the private hospitals across the country and seeking their cooperation that they should also identify in their hospitals some block of isolation and they should also train the doctors."
Azad says his government has done its part to get medicine to treat the virus.
[Ghulam Nabi Azad, Indian Health Minister]:
"There is just one medicine for swine flu recommended by the World Health Organisation, called Tamiflu, oseltamivir phosphate. It has been banned in retail by the government. The government has also purchased 1 crore (10 million) doses from a company and have reserved 60 lakh (6 million) doses ready to use whenever needed."
The health minister says the Indian government is doing all it can to handle the H1N1 virus.
[Ghulam Nabi Azad, Indian Health Minister]:
"In comparison to that (other 168 countries under scope of swine flu) our country, keeping in view the size and population of the country, I think there is minimal number of spread of the epidemic and we have been able to restrict it to some individuals so far and whatever is humanly possible, clinically possible that is being done by the ministry of health."
More than 600 people in India are reported to have H1N1.