Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, March 13: An engineering college in the city is facing harsh criticism from the health department after it came to light that the college, in violation of norms, had announced a seven-day holiday after one of its students was diagnosed with swine flu.
A girl student of the College of Engineering and Technology (CET) tested positive for the dreaded H1N1 virus March 5, prompting a panic-stricken college administration to declare holidays for one week.
Health officials said this was in violation of guidelines. “With the college declaring a holiday, several students who might have come into contact with the affected student and might have contracted the virus travelled to their homes across the state, thereby greatly increasing the risk of transmitting the virus to several other people,” said a health official seeking anonymity.
“The college should have instead ordered a lockdown, and allowed health officials to reach its campus and vaccinate each and every student before letting them out. This way the further spread of the virus could have been contained,” the official added.
“On the same night that the girl tested positive for swine flu, we received two more cases: one from Sainik School and the other from a private hospital. After three cases in one day, we rushed to the affected areas to ensure preventive measures for the high-risk groups in order to prevent an outbreak,” said Kailash Das, director of public health.
If a person tests positive for swine flu at any public place, authorities should ensure nobody leaves without getting vaccinated as the flu is a highly contagious human-to-human transmitted disease. But CET authorities unwittingly allowed students to vacate their rooms and leave for their homes despite being aware of the swine flu case. College authorities refused to comment on the issue despite repeated requests.
“We went to the college the next morning as we had to attend to two other places on the day of the outbreak. But we were greeted by locked hostel gates at the college,” said Das.
A student said many students had left the hostels March 5 itself with the next day being Holi. The student added that authorities attempted to call students back after getting to know of the swine flu case but nobody returned.
