India's Home Minister Shivraj Patil outlines action plan to tackle bird flu
Tarun Sikhdar
Feb. 19, 2006

India is most ill prepared for bird flu. According to experts, close to 38% of the population can be wiped out if bird flu epidemic starts in India.

According to media reports, Assuring that the outbreak of bird flu in the country will be successfully contained, India's Home Minister Shivraj Patil on Sunday [19 February] said a committee comprising the cabinet secretary and other union secretaries are constantly monitoring the situation in west Indian state of Maharastra. The home minister said the National Disaster Management Authority has been swung into action and they are also monitoring the situation.

"We had a committee during tsunami. A similar committee has been formed comprising the cabinet secretary and other secretaries and they are working. I am confident we will succeed in containing the situation," he told reporters on the sidelines of a function at his official residence here. "I called a meeting of the national disaster management authority and we had initiated steps (to control the situation).

He said the Maharastra government and the centre decided to remove the birds from within the radius of three kilometres and all birds within the radius of 10 kms will be vaccinated. Assuring that there will be no shortage of medicine, he said the centre has gathered details about availability of medicines in Delhi, Mumbai and other places and the Animal Husbandry and Health Department were asked to take steps so that adequate medicines are available.

"We have adequate stock of medicines. But still we have gathered details about availabilty of drugs in Delhi, Mumbai and other places to vaccinate the birds and asked the Health and Animal Husbandary Department to take steps to procure the medicines if required," Patil said. The home minister said doctors and scientists have reached the two districts of Maharastra.

In the first outbreak of bird flu cases in India, eight people were admitted to hospital yesterday with suspected avian virus after 50,000 birds died in Nandurbar and Dhule districts of Maharashtra. About two lakh [200,000] chickens were slaughtered and buried in the two affected districts after confirmation of the presence of the virus. The High Security Animal Disease Laboratory in Bhopal, where poultry samples were sent, confirmed that eight of them had strains of H5N1 virus.

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