Karachi: A young man has died of swine flu
here becoming the first person in Sindh province to succumb to
H1N1 type A influenza, the outbreak of which was confirmed by
health officials recently.
Officials of the Sindh Swine Flu surveillance cell
said that Ifthikarullah a resident of the North Nazimabad area
was admitted to a state hospital and was undergoing treatment
for influenza symptoms.
"He expired on Saturday night," the incharge of the
surveillance cell, Dr Suresh Kumar said.
Ikram is the first person to die from swine flu since
its recent outbreak in the province.
Kumar said currently they were 11 confirmed patients
of swine flu undergoing treatment in the province.
The doctor said swab samples had been collected from
the family members, relatives and friends of the deceased and
sent for tests to Islamabad at the national health centre.
Officials in the Sindh health department said they
weer facing problems in launching a public awareness campaign
about the deadly viral disease because of paucity of funds.
"Even when we had the dengue fever outbreak paucity of
funds hampered our efforts to launch public awareness
campaigns," one official said.
Secretary health, Syed Hashim Raza said that a summary
would be sent to the chief minister for additional funds to
launch the campaign which was very important.
PTI
First Published: Sunday, January 02, 2011, 19:53