Swine flu: Delhi doctors work overtime

As swine flu spreads across the country, what is getting hidden in the haze of its scare is the hard work and persistence of many doctors.

In Delhi's Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, the doctors are fighting against time. A small team daily screens hundreds of patients.

For Dr Sunil Saxena, the Chief Medical Officer at the RML, work has been gruelling in the past three months. He does daily rounds at the H1N1 screening centre of the hospital.

Swine flu related deaths have occurred elsewhere, but pressure has doubled here. On Tuesday his team of 30 doctors had to screen 800 patients.

"We have three shifts -- morning, noon and night. We have mobilised doctors from other departments like medicine and paediatrics. We are trying to ensure that each patient is checked in 15-20 minutes. People, you know, have so many queries," he said.

But what about the family concerns?

"They are worried when I go to work. But we are taking all sorts of infection control measures,"  Saxena said.

Delhi has one third of the swine flu cases in the country. Yet, control measures in the city are being seen as exemplary because, of the 250 known cases, there isn't a single casualty.

And all the credit goes to Health Ministry's excellent system of tracking cases and to doctors at the 13 government hospitals who have been working almost non-stop.

They have been able to manage both screening and treatment without involving private hospitals yet; all this while providing at least four doctors on each shift in every hospital. The services too have been the best.

"When I entered the hospital I was very hesitant. But the ward was on the top floor, and it was spick and span. It was just like a private hospital. They had LCD TV, AC, everything," said Rachita Jain, a cured swine flu patient.

It's been a smooth run even amid the panic. Reason -- the city is not considering shutting down schools and multiplexes like Mumbai that has not thrown up even half the number of cases as Delhi.