'Forceful awareness campaign' to tackle swine flu: Dikshit

Delhi,Feb 22: Taking note of the rapidly increasing number of cases of swine flu, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has instructed the health department to launch a campaign to tackle the situation.

During a high-level meeting which was called to review the situation, Dikshit said, "I have asked the Health department to launch a campaign through the media and outdoor advertising to increase awareness on symptoms and precautions that can and should be taken,"

She further said that the 'supply of Tamiflu (drug to treat H1N1 flu) of various strengths must be made 'available in all screening centres, state surveillance units and district surveillance units'.

Health department officials are monitoring the situation.

According to reports 11 people have died so far due to swine flu while 45 new cases have been reported on Friday. At present the total number of cases stands at 615. The Delhi government has designated 23 hospitals in the city for treatment of the patients.

"The department must learn lessons from the past experience in order to improve its response mechanism to deal with outbreak of swine flu," said Dikshit.

The meeting was attended by Health Minister A K Walia, Chief Secretary D M Spolia, Health Secretary S C L Das, officials of National Centre for Disease Control and medical superintendents of 22 designated government and private hospitals were present in the meeting.

With inputs from PTI