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Barnala resident dies of swine flu
Shariq Majeed
Tribune News Service

Barnala, January 6
Fear has gripped Qilla Muhalla in Barnala city after an elderly tea stall owner Ramji Lal died of swine flu today. The team of doctors from Barnala civil hospital after identifying the persons, who came in contact with the deceased, has started giving them medicine for the swine flu infection.

As per reports, Ramji Lal of ward four of Qilla Muhalla in Barnala, who used to run a tea stall in the BDPO Complex had cold, cough and fever for the last about one week.

Doctors attending him at the local nursing home hospital referred the swine flu suspect to the Dayanand Medical College in Ludhiana where doctors after receiving his sample found him to be positive for the disease and the patient died of the disease at the Medical College on Wednesday morning. The body of the deceased was taken by his relatives to Barnala and cremated at Ram Bagh Barnala today.

Confirming the first death due to swine flu in Barnala, District Medical Officer (DMO) Barnala, Dr Ashwani Kumar Malhotra said that they have started giving medicines to the relatives of the deceased and staff who came in contact with Ramji Lal at the private heath centre and those who could have come in contact with the deceased during his illness so that they do not fall prey to disease.

He added that after going through the case history of the Ramji Lal, they would come to know as to how he caught the disease.

Dr Malhotra has in the meanwhile cautioned people to adopt preventive measures for the swine flu disease. Meanwhile, local sources claimed that it is the first death because of swine flu in the Barnala district.