The Hindu : SARS Information: Round-the-clock helpline soon

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Apr 27, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Tamil Nadu

SARS Information: Round-the-clock helpline soon

By Ramya Kannan and T.S. Shankar

Chennai April 26. The Tamil Nadu Health Department proposes to set up a 24-hour helpline at the office of the Directorate of Public Health here for providing information on Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.

It will be manned round the clock by a specially-trained paramedic, who will provide information on various aspects of the disease and direct suspected patients to the right centres for testing and treatment. The department hopes to make this facility functional in a few days, according to the Director of Public Health, P. Krishnamurthy.

Meanwhile, on the advice of the Centre, the State has sent circulars to all district headquarters hospitals, asking them to be on the `alert' for suspected SARS cases. However, facilities required for treatment were not being provided in the district hospitals as in the World Health Organisation listing, India was only a `SARS reporting', and not `SARS-affected', country.

"There will be cause for concern only when local transmission of the virus begins. So far we have not had that problem and we merely continue to `report' suspected cases of passengers flying in from abroad," according to a senior Health department official.

Doctors in the Christian Medical College Hospital, Vellore, are awaiting reports from the National Institute of Virology, Pune, to determine whether Ezhumalai, a patient, tested positive for the disease. Ezhlumalai, who was admitted to the hospital on Thursday with typical SARS symptoms, had flown in from Singapore. If the tests read positive, Ezhumalai will be the first SARS patient of Tamil Nadu.

In effect, it is only in Chennai, where signs of frantic activity in terms of screening patients at airports are visible. With several flights coming in directly from South-east Asian destinations to Chennai, airport authorities assign great importance to the international arrival section. Four cubicles have been set up to screen passengers.

S. K. Saraswathi, regional executive director of the national airports division of the AAI, said similar facilities were provided in the Tiruchi, Madurai and Coimbatore airports. Medical teams, roped in from the CGHS or State Government hospitals, were appointed to screen passengers, who arrive by any of the international flights.

In Chennai, two rooms have been set apart in the Government General Hospital (with four beds each) to receive suspected SARS patients, and a ward with 30 beds in the Communicable Diseases Hospital, Tondiarpet, has been made ready to meet any emergency requirements: oxygen cylinders, defibrillators, portable X-ray machines, masks, gloves, and anti-viral and pneumonia drugs.

In contrast, there is little or no excitement about SARS in the rest of the State, with the exception of Vellore. But the government hospitals in Tiruchi, Coimbatore and Madurai have also been provided with facilities to handle cases, says Dr. Krishnamurthy.

"At the moment, we are just watching. Those who arrive by international flights are asked to declare their status on a health card, which has to be submitted to health officials at the booths. We also give them a tear-off slip, which educates them on SARS symptoms — cold, cough and respiratory distress — and advise them to see a doctor if they exhibit these symptoms later," a Health department official said.

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Southern States