Mizzima News

 
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The surveillance level for A(H1N1) virus has been stepped up among Burmese migrant workers in the border town of Mae Sot by Thailand’s public health authorities.

Health officials from Mae Sot Hospital and NGO staff members have compiled a Burmese language handbook about the influenza and its prevention. It has been distributed to migrant children in learning centres and factories where thousands work.

A worker in Mae Sot said she was told to use a sanitized mask while working in the factory. “I am scared about the disease but I don’t know much about it,” she said.

Phongpot Bianamlorm, a public health official from Mae Sot hospital said that the hospital is spreading information through the media with leaflets being distributed among migrant school children and in factories. It details how to protect oneself from the disease. The content is translated from the information the Public Health Ministry has, but is easy to read and understand.

Two suspected A(H1N1) patients are being treated in Mae Sot Hospital, according to a report in the Thai news website Komchadluek on Tuesday.

The Federation of Thai Industries in Tak province has requested cooperation from entrepreneurs in the province to step up surveillance and prevent spread of the virus by letting workers use masks. If a worker is ill with cold or flu the employers should be informed immediately. Outsiders should not be allowed into the plants.

Thailand's Ministry of Public Health on Tuesday confirmed three new deaths from A(H1N1), raising the country's flu-related fatalities to 24. The ministry also reported 176 new A(H1N1) cases, bringing the total to 4,057 patients, a majority being school children.

The Thai authorities introduced A(H1N1) screening measures in schools nationwide on Monday to detect students at risk. This should be effective in controlling an outbreak in schools. The ministry's report revealed that the measures could reduce the number of newly-infected cases in schools.

In its latest decision the Thai Cabinet on Tuesday approved a budget of Baht 850 million to buy vaccines against the new strain of influenza and Oseltamivir tablets. Baht 600 million will be used to buy two million doses of the vaccine and the rest is for the tablets.

The vaccines are to be divided into two lots. The first is expected to arrive in Thailand in December and the second in January. Health workers, medical personnel and doctors would be among the first group to receive the vaccines, followed by doctors and medical personnel working in the southernmost provinces, as well as security personnel and people having underlying disease.