Fresh H1N1 guidelines issued by the Health Ministry to the states

"We are monitoring the situation on real time basis. A control room has already been set up and is fully functional now. We have also rolled out a nationwide awareness campaign on Seasonal Influenza (H1N1)," he said.

The Ministry officials said that 10,000 Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kits and 5,000 N95 masks are being procured by Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). The process of procurement of at least 3 lakh tablets of Oseltamivir 75 Mg and 1 lakh syrups is already underway.

"We have assured full support to the state governments. In fact, the Ministry has already issued three advisories to the state governments over the last one month and held a video conference with them to review their strategy and plans," they said.

The officials noted that there was sufficient stock of drugs, testing kits and masks and around 7,000 diagnostic kits have already been distributed among various government laboratories and 15,000 more kits will be provided to them.

"We have also received information on logistics from 18 states. I am monitoring the situation closely," Nadda said.

"The process for training of Master Trainers on ventilator management will be completed in the first half of November which will ensure sufficient capacity for the health care workers for managing critical patients," he said.