New Delhi: Swine flu deaths have soared to over 600 across the country while number of people affected by it breached the 10,000 mark. Meanwhile Rajasthan govt on Wednesday, in an alarming disclosure said that almost eight people are dying every day of swine flu in the state.
There were 180 swine flu cases in January, out of which 39 died, the number rose to 3,468 in February and the disease has already claimed 152 lives this month.
Doctors in Rajasthan say they have tested over 10,000 people for swine flu so far; they say the number of people queueing up for the test is due to the increase in awareness.
But few people are still facing problems in reaching hospitals to get cured from the deadly virus.
According to a report in NDTV, pregnant women are among those most at risk from swine flu and with patients not starting medication on time, the spread of the disease is only getting worse. Of the number of Swine flu deaths reported in Rajasthan, nine per cent have been pregnant women.
Lack of specialty care units also the big concern for the infected patients. There are only six government hospitals in the entire state that offer such care which means one big hospital catering to about 5-6 districts.
Doctors heading the state's newly constituted task force on swine flu also say the government just does not have the facilities to cope with an outbreak of this magnitude.
There are 94 beds in the various critical care units in six medical colleges across Rajasthan, but it is inadequate for a population of nearly 4 crores.
