Mumbai lady is second swine flu victim

Five days after a 14-year-old Pune girl succumbed to the dreaded disease as the number of people afflicted with the virus showed a sharp rise across the country. Fahmida Panwala, a resident of Mumbai who was diabetic and suffered from hypertension, was shifted to Municipal Kasturba Hospital from private Lilavati hospital in a critical condition on Friday night succumbed on Saturday. She tested positive of H1N1 after a swab test and died in the afternoon, Umesh Aigal, Chief Medical Superintendent, Kasturba hospital, told PTI.

Mumbai civic body officials said Panwala was first admitted to a private nursing home in Jogeshwari, with swine flu symptoms three days ago and shifted to Leelawati Hospital on Friday when her condition showed no sign of improvement. After a three-hour stay at Leelawati, she was transferred to Kasturba Hospital. Her swab was sent to National Institute of Virology in Pune on friday night for test, whose result later confirmed she was suffering from the disease.

Jairaj Thalekar, Brihanmumbai Municipal Coporation Health Officer, said Panwala had been suffering from fever for the past seven days. She was given Tamiflu even before the test report came from NIV and put on ventillator as she developed acute respiratory problem. Thalekar said doctors could not much to save Panwala who was already in a critical condition when she was admitted. Besides, she was suffering from diabetes and hypertension and this was the reason why swine flu "acted very fast".

In Mumbai, 16 new H1N1 cases have been detected besides 40 in Pune. Two are said to be in serious condition. A total of 77 swine flu positive cases are under treatment in Mumbai and Pune. Sandeep Gaikwad, a 28-year-old youth, was admitted to private Hiranandani hospital in Mumbai with swine flu symptoms and is stated to be in "very critical" condition, manager of the medical facility, Manish Joshi, said. Gaikwad was admitted three days back with acute respiratory distress and has been on ventillator since Wednesday.

Three doctors and a nurse of a Pune hospital, who had respiratory problems after the girl's death, were being treated for the disease. 

Enough medicines were available for swine flu and four more H1N1 virus test centres were being set up in the peripheral hospitals in Mumbai, the city's mayor said after the western metropolis recorded its first and the country's second swine flu death. "We are setting up test centres in four peripheral hospitals," Mayor Shubha Raul said.

Allaying fears of the people, Raut said, "We have enough stock of Tamiflu tablets and masks." Dr Pradip Awate, in-charge of the swine flu control in the Maharashtra Health Directorate, said state health machinery was ready to tackle the situation and government hospitals had enough medicines and equipment to deal with thecases. Meanwhile, a spokesperson of Lilavati hospital, where Panwala was initially treated, said she was transferred to government-run Kasturba "with full medical assistance and two doctors from Lilavati accompanied her". Like all hospitals, we have been transferring swine flu cases to government hospitals, he said.