India suggests exit screening to tackle HIN1 flu

Jammu, June 11 (ANI): As swine flu spreads across the country, the Health Ministry has said it has asked the External Affairs Ministry to request affected countries to screen all out-bound passengers to India in order to check the export of the deadly virus.

Talking to reporters in Jammu, Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said: "They should take up with the countries which are infected by influenza A H1N1. They should take up with those countries that out-bound passenger should be screened before coming to India."

Earlier, Azad in New Delhi assured that adequate stock of medicines is available to check the swine flu and there is no need for panic following the outbreak of the disease.

The State Government has stepped up the medical facilities in the capital and identified some major hospitals to admit emergency cases.

Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital has been identified as the nodal center for the treatment of the Swine Flu, whereas GB Pant Hospital, AIIMS, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Hospital, Safdarjung Hospital, Hindu Rao Hospital and Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Hospital are the other hospitals.

Earlier, two persons had tested positive of the deadly flu in New Delhi, which included a 35-year-old man who returned from New York on June 2 and his 60-year-old mother.

The spread of H1N1 flu in Australia, Britain, Chile, Japan and Spain has nudged the world closer to a pandemic, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said.

The WHO said it was getting close to declaring a full-blown pandemic caused by the H1N1 virus, which has infected more than 26,500 people in 73 countries. (ANI)