Private health practitioners will discuss ways to handle A(H1N1) cases

Star: PUTRAJAYA: Private doctors will be meeting with Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai and ministry officials today to discuss how to handle A(H1N1) cases.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Ismail Merican said, “We hope to get a good turnout from the doctors so that they can have a frank and open discussion with the minister. Everyone must play their part to prevent the spread of the disease.”
Dr Ismail said parents should also limit the number of outings involving children, especially to public and crowded places to prevent them from being exposed to the flu.
“We cannot emphasise enough how important it is for the public to be responsible for their own well-being by practising good personal hygiene and social distancing if they are unwell,” he added.
He also announced that a 24-year-old woman who died on Aug 19 has been confirmed as the 71st A(H1N1) fatality in the country.
Dr Ismail said the woman’s death was confirmed by the mortality review committee yesterday.
As of yesterday, 324 new patients were warded in hospitals for influenza-like illness (ILI).
The woman, he said, was an obese person who had suffered from fever, cough and headache on Aug 8 and was warded in a private hospital in Kuantan on Aug 10.
“She was given viral pneumonitis treatment and was transferred to the Intensive Care Unit two days later when her condition worsened. The patient was given anti-viral treatment on the same day,” he said.
Dr Ismail said that on Aug 17, the laboratory test came back positive for A(H1N1) but the patient died on Aug 19 and the cause of death was A(H1N1) with acute respiratory distress syndrome.
He said the accumulative figure of those being treated for ILI nationwide was 1,446, adding that the actual number of patients being treated for A(H1N1) totalled at 217.