RAIPUR/NEW DELHI, Aug 21 – Swine flu has claimed the lives of three more persons, including a CRPF jawan, the first fatality insecurity forces, raising the nationwide toll to 47, even as Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad today accused state governments of not doing enough to contain the pandemic, reports PTI. YS Rao of CRPF died on August 14 at SIMS Hospital in Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh and his swab test confirmed yesterday that he was suffering from the virus infection, state Health Director Pramod Singh said. Rao had gone to Mumbai for some official work and fell ill after returning to Bilaspur.
A 47-year-old man, whose name was not immediately available, died in Chennai last night, while a 26-year-old woman, identified as Lakshmi, also fell to the infection last night in Bangalore.
Lashing out at state governments, Azad said they have “forgotten their duty” even though the Centre was stretching itself to the maximum limit to contain the disease.
Addressing state health ministers at a review meeting of the National Rural Health Mission in New Delhi, the Minister said, “We (Centre) can go to a point, don’t expect us to go beyond a point.
“This is the maximum limit we could stretch ourselves to. Beyond this the state governments should shoulder their responsibility which they haven’t done,” Azad said.
With the latest flu deaths, Bangalore now accounts for 11 fatalities while Chennai two. The toll includes 22 people in Maharashtra and five in Gujarat. Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand have also registered flu deaths. (source-assamtribune)