Tamiflu in town

THE 20 000 units of Tamiflu antiviral drugs ordered by the Ministry of Health for the treatment of the H1N1 flu virus have arrived in the country.

The Chairperson of the National Health Emergency Management Committee (NHEMC), Dr Jack Vries, confirmed to The Namibian yesterday that the stockpile of the antiviral drug is here and is being distributed.He said it was decided at a meeting of the committee yesterday morning that each of the 34 district hospitals across the country, as well as the two main hospitals in Windhoek, would receive 10 units of Tamiflu to start off with. Of the remaining 19 640 units, 20 per cent will be stockpiled at the Ministry of Health and Social Services’ medical store at Rundu, 20 per cent in Oshakati, and 60 per cent at the Central Medical Stores in Windhoek.The committee also confirmed that no more suspected cases of H1N1 have emerged since the first suspected case of a 40-year-old woman reported last Monday. Laboratory tests of samples sent to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) in South Africa found that she did not have the new H1N1 flu strain.Although there have not been any confirmed cases in Africa, the flu remains a global threat, with Dr Vries recently remarking that ‘the question is not IF the flu will hit Namibia, but rather WHEN it will hit.’According to the World Health Organisation, 62 countries had reported 17 410 cases of influenza A(H1N1) infection by Monday , including 115 deaths.nangula@namibian.com.na