KARACHI, Jan 14: The city government has decided to establish isolation wards in its seven major hospitals for an effective management of human avian influenza cases.

The focal person on bird flu at the health department of the city government, Dr Aslam Pervez, told Dawn on Monday that any threat of bird flu epidemic in birds or humans in the city was not in sight but the city government was taking precautionary measures.

At a meeting of the CDGK health department convened in the last week of December in the wake of Pakistan’s first human death caused by H5N1 bird flu virus in NWFP, preparedness of the city government in terms of combating any spread of bird flu was reviewed. And it was noted, among other things, that there was a need to build up the capacity of the city government’s health department in case of any transmission of the deadly virus to humans.

According to a WHO report on cumulative number of confirmed human cases of avian influenza A/H5N1 which was issued on Jan 11, a total of 86 human cases were reported in 14 countries around the globe during 2007, out of which 58 died. During the same year, Pakistan reported one death caused due to avian influenza.

Dr Pervez said that the isolation wards in hospitals including Abbasi Shaheed and North Karachi hospitals would be made functional at some purposely dedicated place only after receiving diagnosis and surveillance equipment and protective gears from Islamabad for the relevant staff attending the infected patients.

He said that the National Institute of Health, Islamabad, was being requested not only for an extension of the personal protection equipment and diagnostic materials to the city government but also for training arrangements for surveillance and medical staff to be nominated by CDGK’s health department.

He said that every town in the city would be required to depute two surveillance officers and one medical officer for training in the management of human cases of bird flu. Moreover, seven hospitals being designated for the creation of isolation wards would also be offered training facilities under NIH arrangements, Dr Pervez added.