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Morning assembly meetings in schools should be dispensed with under new guidelines being issued by the Health Ministry soon to contain the spread of swine flu which also make it mandatory for class teachers to check each student for symptoms of the viral disease.
The guidelines is expected to be issued in a couple of days, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad told a group media-persons in New Delhi . Morning assembly in schools where students come in close contact could become a source for spread of the virus, Azad said. "It is also being made mandatory for each teacher to go from seat to seat in the class to check for symptoms of flu, identify the student and immediately sent him or her back with the advice that they should stay at home for a week," he said.
Spelling out the steps being taken by the government to check spread of swine flu, he said a new vaccine is expected to be developed in the next five to seven months for which the World Health Organisation has given the seed from Atlanta-based Centre for Disease Control. A new law was being readied to replace the century-old Epedemic Act to include more pandemic diseases in its list to effectively deal with such situations, he said. Twenty-eight people have died due to swine flu in the country so far while over 1,700 have tested positive. The Minister said 24 more thermal scanners will be put into operation at international airports in the country.
Azad said six private laboratories in Delhi to test swine flu samples in addition to the existing three facilities. In all, there are government-run 18 labs testing swine flu samples in the country. The Defence Ministry has also identified certain labs for testing purposes and the Health Ministry was tying up with it, he said. The Task Force set up to explore response to swine flu is expected to submit its report tomorrow, he said. Amid apprehensions that people from swine flu-hit cities like Pune, Mumbai and Hyderabad are moving to rural areas where the disease could spread, he said state governments have been told to take necessary steps to deal with the situation.
While the disease has been contained to a large extent, there is " no magic wand" to stop it permanently, he said adding the Health Ministry has gone "far beyond" what it is expected to do. He said people who have died of swine flu had either received late treatment or were already suffering from a chronic disease and hence have no immunity.
Image: Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad