JK not following WHO guidelines: Experts

Compulsory 3-layered N95 masks not available ISHFAQ MIR Srinagar, Aug 11: Although the state health ministry Tuesday sounded Swine Flu alert, it is yet to follow the World Health Organization recommendations regarding the quality and availability of masks and drugs in retail market. Also the isolation wards, which government claims have been kept ready at all district hospitals ‘fail’ to meet the standard set by WHO and National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD). WHO recommends use of N95 masks as a first hand protection from getting infected by pandemic H1N1 A influenza (Swine Flu), but according to senior health officials the masks available here are mostly single layered. The N95 mask was recommended by the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and World Health Organisation (WHO) as the minimum respiratory protection required from the bird flu virus back in 2003. “Although masks are available with us, but they are not at par with those recommended by WHO. Most of the masks are single layered and just five to seven per cent are triple layered,” informed a credible source from Gousia Hospital Srinagar. Questioning the availability of masks and drugs in the market, a senior health official said, “Keeping the masks available at hospitals and checking centers is not a wise step. The masks should be made available in the open retail market so that people buy them and use them at the earlier stage”. While a disposable mask costs Rs 5 to 10 and is still not available at pharmacies, the safer N95 masks priced at Rs 115 are not available at all. The N95 masks are supposed to filter at least 95 percent of all particulates that are 3 microns or larger and screen particles expelled by a sneeze or a cough. WHO has authorized the use of these respirators by the general public during the public health emergency. Experts warn that these respirators do not eliminate the risk of disease, illness, or death. “The effectiveness of these respirators depends on tight fit to the face. These respirators are designed to filter out germs that may be present in the air we breathe. They may help reduce our risk of getting sick”. “In our hospitals the condition of special wards is pitiable, not to talk of any isolation wards. They don’t meet the standard. You can’t name any room an isolation ward,” they said. Principal Government Medical College Srinagar Prof Shahida Mir told Rising Kashmir, “We have kept 9-bedded disaster management ward at SMHS hospital ready for any emergency. Drugs are not available with us but they are lying with a senior official from Ministry of Family Welfare Shazia Wafai coordinating with us during this health emergency”. She said everything has been kept ready to meet any health challenge. “We have got two doctors trained from New Delhi to handle Swine Flu cases, if any,” she said However repeated attempts to reach Director Health proved futile.