BAHAWALPUR: The death toll from seasonal influenza H1N1 rose to six on Monday as a woman passed away at the Bahawal Victoria Hospital (BVH).

Emergencies director/ focal person Dr Aamir Bukhari confirmed the death of Sardaran Bibi, 40, belonging to village 20/DNB in Yazman tehsil, about 30km from here. She had been under treatment for the last few days and was shifted to the isolation ward on Sunday.

Dr Bokhari said presently there were 36 suspected patients of H1N1 at BVH. Out of them, blood test results of 14 had come out positive. Blood samples of the remaining patients – out of whom 12 were admitted on Monday -- had been sent to a laboratory in Multan.

He expressed concern over the absence of test kits at BVH, saying a firm had been ordered to immediately provide 50 kits but the importer had said it would take about a week.

He said due to delay in obtaining test results from Lahore and Multan, treatment was affected for those tested positive leading to their deaths. He said the BVH had also run out of stock of the vaccine.

PROTEST: Several people demonstrated on Monday at Fawara Chowk against illegal detention of a man by police.

According to the demonstrators from the Christian community, Nabeel had been in police custody for 25 days and allegedly tortured in the lock-up. They alleged that Nabeel’s brother Adeel had married a Muslim girl and eloped with her.

The district police chief’s spokesman Naeem Iqbal told Dawn that the Saddar station house officer denied arresting or detaining anyone. However, he added that Nabeel’s elder brother Adeel had converted and married a Muslim girl a few days back. Her parents had lodged a first information report against Adeel for abducting their daughter. He said the couple could not be traced so far.

Published in Dawn, January 16th, 2018