KARACHI, Feb 10: No government hospital in the city is in a position to offer the much-needed treatment to bird flu patients in isolation, according to medical professionals who see the H5N1 virus that appeared in the country a couple of years ago as a serious threat to public health.

Questioning the major government hospitals’ capacity to handle bird flu cases, the experts say that in a situation when a majority of hospitals in the public sector are not up to the mark in critical care facilities, including isolation wards, biohazards protection wears and equipment, respirators and ventilators, it will be unwise to expect that they will to do the needful in case of bird flu pandemics.

Karachi is now included in the rank of cities of the world where the pathogenic avian influenza has crept in to stay for some time and as such danger to human paramedics should be a major concern, says an official expert on bird flu.

Poultry farmers, workers and consumers, however, appear not very much frightened of the infectious disease while the doctors conscious of the danger of avian influenza underline the need for a dedicated programme on bird flu cases in humans, proper funding, demarcation of suspected areas, and specialisation in the disease in addition to enhancing the hospitals’ capacity for handling such patients, says an official.

In December, the federal health ministry and the World Health Organisation confirmed the first death of one of the eight people, who were tested positive for the H5N1 bird flu virus, in the NWFP since October last.

Referring to the development, experts say that a single human case across the country may be a start and as such the hospitals needed to get ready. To study the traces of bird flu, there is also a need that patients who arrive with flu symptoms and have a relation with poultry should be routinely asked about their recent activities and environment they work in.

A senior doctor at a government hospital says that if and when the pandemic bird flu H5N1 strikes a hospital it should be able to respond to an influx of potentially contagious persons, panic-stricken victims and their families by keeping them calm, safe and secure.

CDC guidelines

According to the guidelines recommended by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, avian flu H5N1 patients need to be placed in a private room that has monitored negative air pressure in relation to the corridor and anteroom.

Moreover, experts say that a medical team handling the bird flu patients should include a lung specialist, a paediatrician, an anaesthetist, a clinical pathologist, a microbiologist and specially trained nurses and have high-tech isolation rooms that can accommodate up to six patients with biohazards protection facilities.

A survey of major hospitals, run by federal, provincial and district governments, suggests that none of them are prepared to handle and provide relief to bird flu patients. They have less space for a major modification as they are already over-occupied with routine exercises and procedures and would hardly be able to spare staff and necessary machines for the purpose.

Dr Rashid Jooma, Executive Director of Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, said that it was not possible for the hospital to dedicate some wards exclusively for isolation purpose. “Besides, we shall have to spare respirators and ventilators for bird flu patient, which is surely a costly affair,” he added.

He said that the medical centre was ready to receive only the confirmed bird flu cases. “Two rooms have been demarcated in a ward to accommodate two patients at the maximum with the view that the JPMC cannot work as a frontline hospital and the Sindh government must have a full-fledged isolated ward or centre for infectious disease patients,” he added.

In reply to a question, Professor Jooma said that he had heard that the federal government was sending special equipment and protection gadgets to hospitals in Sindh, but nothing had reached here so far.

A senior citizen recalls that a hospital exclusively for infectious diseases functioned under the municipality some 25 years back at a site where the Civil Hospital Karachi’s out-patient department works today. The authorities failed to understand the significance of establishing such a centre or maintaining the existing one and as such hospitals are not prepared for an extra ordinary situation, he added.

CHK’s Medical Superintendent Dr Kaleem Butt said that although the hospital lacked a well-equipped ward for the purpose, the administration had started gearing up through its available resources to take burden of three to four bird flu patients in cubical rooms. He agreed that the existing isolated cubical rooms and the hall did not have ventilators and other systems required for bird flu patients with severe respiratory problems. But, he added, in extreme emergencies such patients could be shifted to the coma care centre or the intensive care unit of the hospital for ventilators.

Six isolation wards

An official of the city government had indicated some weeks ago about the government’s plan to establish six isolation wards, each housing two patients of bird flu. He had mentioned that the federal government had been approached for special training of the personnel concerned and supply of relevant wears and equipments. However, the scheme is still a far cry of doctors, says an insider.