Lucknow:
Two persons, including a woman, died in Lucknow of swine flu this week, prompting Uttar Pradesh's health department to convene an emergency meeting to review the situation and preparedness.
"An ex-serviceman and a woman died at Command Hospital on January 13 and 14 respectively. They were suffering from swine flu," PRO (defence) Gargi Malik Sinha said.
The first patient was admitted to the hospital on January 7 and though his test reports confirming swine flu came only on January 12, his treatment had been started based on the symptoms, Sinha said, adding that in the other case, the woman was admitted just 24 hours before her death. Both the patients had been hospitalised at a very late stage, the defence PRO said.
Meanwhile, taking a serious note of the deaths, local administration has alerted the hospitals to take samples of all serious patients with symptoms of the disease for detailed tests at King Georges Medical University (KGMU).
Chief Medical Officer (Lucknow) S N S Yadav said kits have been made available at all the hospitals for taking samples besides necessary medicines.
Medical teams have been rushed to the localities of the deceased and there is no report of any new patient, he added. An emergency meeting of the state's health department was also convened yesterday which reviewed the situation and preparedness.
Assuring that there was no need for panic, Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, Arvind Kumar said the two deaths were isolated cases.