Keep close watch: State alerts hosps

Kolkata: With three cases of Human Metapneumovirus (HMPV) confirmed in India, the state Health department has alerted the hospitals asking them to keep a close watch if any patients report any similar symptoms while visiting the hospitals. Five medical colleges in Kolkata have been directed to open fever clinics. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said no HMPV cases have so far been detected in Bengal. She also assured people saying there is nothing to worry about.

“We are yet to detect any such case. Our Chief Ssecretary has already held a meeting and taken precautionary measures. We do not have any such alerts in this connection (HMPV cases). In case there are any, I will let you know. Our government is always in service of people; you have seen that during the Covid pandemic,” Banerjee told reporters in Ganga Sagar. Union Health Minister JP Nadda said the Health Ministry, the ICMR and the National Centre for Disease Control were keeping a close watch on the situation in China as well as in the neighbouring countries.

Senior health officials held a meeting at Swasthya Bhawan in this regard. Five medical colleges in Kolkata have been asked to open fever clinics while BC Roy Hospital, Beliaghata ID Hospital and MR Bangur Hospital have been urged to open isolated wards. The Chief Medical Officer of health in North 24-Parganas, South 24-Parganas, Howrah and Hooghly have been asked to open fever clinics in the district hospitals. The state Health department has not, however, issued any guidelines in this regard yet. The experts have said that it is nothing new and the virus was first detected in the Netherlands in 2001.