National Public Health Laboratory (NPHL) of the Department of Health Services (DoHS) said that more than 70 people suffering from common cold visit the facility everyday to make sure that they are not infected with the virus.
"We do not have enough staff to deal with such a high turnout every day," Dr Geeta Shakya, director at the NPHL said, adding that most of the people who visit the laboratory seem unnecessarily worried by the news of the infection. She said that the NPHL was struggling to control the throng of people coming for check ups.
According to Director Shakya, NPHL has assigned some of its technicians to counsel the people and allay their fears regarding swine flu. She said the relatives of the victim who died from the virus on Saturday have urged NPHL to send its staff to the victims´ home to confirm that the virus was not transmitted to the close relatives.
Meanwhile, NHPL is also swarmed with students applying for or enrolled at Indian universities to get swine flu virus clearance certificate. "They are telling us that their respective colleges have been barring them from attending classes without the clearance certificate," added Dr Shakya.
In India, the virus has already claimed over 900 hundreds lives.
Students of a school in Janakpur district are seen wearing mask in this photo taken on Monday afternoon. A growing number of people are using mask as precaution against swine flu. ( Suresh Yadav/Republica)
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) said that it has send influenza testing kits, medicines, masks and other equipments to health facilities at the local level to deal with the swine flu cases. "We have directed all District Public Health Offices (DoHS) of the districts adjoining India to examine the health of people returning from India," informed Khaga Raj Adhikari, minister for Health and Population, in a press meet held at the ministry on Tuesday. He said that people need not be scared of the virus as it is a seasonal flu common during winter season.
Minister Adhikari also informed that he has directed the offices concerned to launch awareness drive against the virus across the country.
Speaking at the program Dr Baburam Marasini, director at the Epidemiology and Disease Control Division (EDCD) of the DoHS informed that one had died and 48 other were infected from virus until Monday. A woman of Kathmandu had died while undergoing treatment at Kathmandu Model Hospital on Saturday evening.
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