Bangalore:
The health authorities in Karnataka have decided to scale up the preparations to tackle swine flu by identifying some more hospitals in the city and Bangalore Rural district to meet any contingency.
The hospitals that could treat any patient with swine flu symptoms were identified in a meeting convened by Commissioner of Health and Family Welfare Services, health department Regional Director Dr Anbazhagan said.
These hospitals are St John's hospital, Bowring hospital, Victoria hospital and district hospitals in Bangalore rural and urban regions.
"These hospitals, apart from Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases, have been asked to establish the requisite isolation facilities to handle suspect patients", he said.
Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) has been running a medical center established for the purpose since April 29 and "since yesterday a team of 24 doctors' team assisted by eight staff nurses have been screening all international passengers", Anbazhagan said.
"As many as 2,333 passengers have been screened in the last 24 hours," he said.
Out of the 24 doctors, ten have been posted for night duty to handle the peak international passenger traffic during late hours, he added.