MULTAN - Two more patients succumbed to the killer virus H1N1 in Nishtar Hospital, raising the death toll from Swine flu, also known as seasonal influenza, to 32, hospital sources informed.
Health sources disclosed that the Punjab Minister Primary and Secondary Healthcare Khawaja Imran Nazir held a special meeting to review the situation of Swine Flu outbreak and issued order for monitoring of H1N1 virus affected districts on daily basis besides dispatching special teams to these districts. Sources said that the minister hoped that the outbreak would be overcome within next two weeks. Similarly, the minister directed Punjab Healthcare Commission to make it mandatory for all private hospitals to immediately report H1N1 cases and ensure their shifting to public hospitals. He also urged upon the public to immediately contact doctors when the initial symptoms of virus appeared in suspects. He said that the Chief Executive Officers Health had also been issued instructions to ensure response to H1N1 cases without any delay to prevent spread of virus.
Meanwhile, four new suspected patients of Swine Flu were admitted to Nishtar hospital, raising the total number of patients brought to the hospital so far to 250. The four new admitted suspects belonged to Khanewal (3) and Muzaffargarh (1). The blood samples of the suspected patients had been sent to the National Institute of Health for examination.
SWOOP ON ILLEGAL COMMERCIAL ZONES
The government has decided to launch a massive crackdown on illegal commercial zones in residential areas as Commissioner Multan Division Bilal Butt sought a detailed report from the district administration on business activities in non-commercial areas on Saturday. Chairing a meeting, the Commissioner directed the district administration to start action against illegal commercial zones. He said that illegal commercial buildings, commercial activities beyond the capacity of roads and different areas caused many problems like traffic jams. He said that the absence of commercial and metropolitan zone in the city was a major reason behind illegal commercialisation. He directed the concerned officials to evolve a comprehensive strategy for overcoming illegal commercialisation issue and submit a report.
He declared that a committee comprising officials from district government, traffic police and local government would be constituted to review the issue and compile a detailed report.
The Commissioner issued order for sealing illegal commercial properties like shops and directed the authorities concerned to ensure presence of setback at all commercial buildings. "The citizens are forced to leave their vehicles on roads due to absence of appropriate parking place at commercial buildings. It causes severe traffic problem. We need to address this issue," he added. He issued order for the detailed inspection of all commercial buildings and availability of facilities like parking there.
It was told during the meeting that many residential areas were over 60 year old and massive commercialisation had already been done there. It was also told during the meeting that steps had been taken to check illegal commercialisation.