JALANDHAR: A total of nine Suspected plague patients were admitted in the Civil Hospital here from Thursday evening to Friday evening, out of which four Sukhdey Bhagat (20), Pal Khan (25), Mohinder (19) and Mohmmad Sadiq, hailing from Bihar were found missing from the isolation ward of the hospital where they were kept under observation.

These patients were referred by the team of the doctors deputed at the medical checkup post put up at the local railway station. The patients were given tetracycline treatment but the detailed diagnoses was yet to be carried out.

‘The nursing staff and the employees of the hospital who has been entrusted with the job of handling the cases of the epidemic has expressed their inability to handle the patients. The staff on duty has demanded security outside the isolation ward. However, no doctor, had visited the ward on Friday and the medical superintendent had gone back after having a round of the ward and imparting distinctions to the subordinates.

However, the Punjab health secretary. Mrs. Poonam Kheterpal, said here on Saturday that there ‘was no confirmed case of plague in the state, though a number of persons had been admitted to hospitals in various districts for screening. SANGRUR: Panic gripped the district when a truck driver, suspected to be suffering from plague, was admitted to the Civil Hospital, Malerkoua. Enquires revealed that the patient had Left the plague hit Surat on September 24 and reached his village on September28, On Oct.1, he was rushed to the hospital. LUDHIANA: The Deputy Commissioner, Sarwan Singh Channy, ‘on Sunday, said that an intensive Cleanliness campaign had been launched in the city to check the outbreak of plague.

Mr, Channy disclosed that no plague case had so far been detected in the district.

More than 150 persons have already got themselves injected, Most of them are the illiterate poor, Tesiding in Basti, These doctors Claim that the health department has authorized them to administer the “needle”’ as part of it’s drive against plague.

However, the health department Officials has refuted their claims, saying that no such injection has been issued.

KAITHAL; Dr, N.K. Dhawan, acting chief medical officer of Kaithal, on Sunday, denied reports appearing in a section of the Press that persons affected with plague had entered the district. UNA: The Deputy Commissioner, Una, Mr. B.K. Aggarwal, said that one person was admitted to the hospital for suspected plague infection. His blood and sputum samples have been sent to the NICD, New Delhi, Meanwhile, five persons who had reached Una from Surat and seven persons from other towns of Gujarat, have tested negative for plague. Three plague surveillance centers have been set up at Mehatpur, Gagret and Marwari to screen any Suspected plague patients coming _by bus from neighboring states, “the Deputy Commissioner informed.

Article extracted from this publication >>  October 7, 1994