Government may be ‘dressing up’ data about H1N1

CHENNAI: Almost every day for the past two months H1N1 deaths have been reported across the state, yet the official toll for the viral disease released by the public health department on Monday for 2018 is 23.

Hospitals, both private and public, have reported around 1,500 admissions of category C patients, who have breathlessness, chest pain, drowsiness, low blood pressure and high grade fever along with sore throat, cough and cold.“There would be at least an equal number of people who were treated with oseltamivir for high fever, sore throat, cough and cold at home,” said director of public health Dr K Kolandaswamy. But such patients were removed from state case records. Deaths of those with co-morbid chronic conditions such as heart or kidney failure, respiratory disorder or immune compromising conditions were not included as being caused by H1N1, he said.
“If patients have chronic conditions, H1N1 won’t be the cause of death. Their poor immunity and body condition caused by the disease has led to death. It is a scientific way of recording deaths,” said Kolandaswamy, who is also the registrar of births and deaths.
Former public health director Dr S Elango said it was important to include category B as cases. “People with other ailments are admitted after they test positive. Even if co-morbid conditions worsened H1N1 and led to death, it should be recorded. Doctors list more than one cause for death. Case sheets and death summaries will record H1N1,” he said. “Reporting all deaths may eventually help the state as people will understand the seriousness of the disease,” he said.
Most Chennai hospitals said they notified all H1N1 cases to local health authorities. “Health officers from the city corporation have visited patients’ houses and even distributed medicines to bedside contacts,” said Kanchi Kamakoti Childs Trust Hospital medical director Dr S Balasubramanian. As tests are not required for H1N1 patients in category A and B they are not recorded, said a corporation official. “Category C patients being treated at hospitals are all recorded. We get the list from the hospitals, keep a track of the condition and prescribe preventive medicines to families.”
The number of H1N1 cases particularly in Chennai, Coimbatore and Vellore remain high. “Most people who picked up infections had history of hospital visits for other ailments. Lack of adequate sterilisation of wards and hand hygiene among patients increases risk. We have seen a visible difference in places where sterilisation rules and protocols are followed,” Dr Kolandaswamy said.