Lucknow, New Delhi: If you believe you may have been exposed to the swine flu, be conscientious and report yourself to a government facility which can check out your condition. It may sound like common sense, but there are those who don't seem to have any issues avoiding doctors and exposing themselves to hundreds of other people.
At the Railway Hospital in Uttar Pradesh's Balrampur, a 24-year-old IT professional -- infected with H1N1 influenza -- came for a check up. Since the Railway Hospital didn't have quarantine or treatment facilities, he was referred to the hospital where quarantine was possible. But he never turned up,
"He has travelled a lot through train. When he is travelling by train, don't know who he has come in contract with? He knew he was a suspected case," said Dr R B Agarwal, CMO, Balrampur Hospital.
What now appears to be a serious failure, the surveillance system failed to pick up the patient who had recently returned from New Jersey.
He first landed in Pune, from where he took a flight to Delhi. He then boarded the Lucknow Mail to meet his parents. He had cough, cold and fever all this while.
But instead of checking into a quarantine centre, he took the Shatabdi Mail and returned to Delhi before flying back to Pune.
The Railway Hospital had reported the case to the Chief Medical Officer who sent a rapid response team to track the patient. But by then, he had left. The worry is that hundreds of people, especially on the trains could have been exposed to the infection.
"It is easy to track people on flights, but on trains the time spent is longer and there are many people who come and go. So it is very hard to track," said Balrampur Hospital CMP Dr R B Agarwal.
So far, the heat could be one of the reasons why the virus is not spreading too quickly. But with the advancing monsoon, cases could surge putting even more pressure on a hobbling surveillance system.