Lebanese Woman Hospitalized in Riyadh with
Added On : 22nd June 2009
Lebanese Woman Hospitalized in Riyadh with H1N1 Infection RIYADH: A 25-year-old Lebanese woman has been diagnosed with swine flu and admitted to the Armed Forces Hospital in Riyadh, bringing the total number of people affected by the disease in the Kingdom to 35, it was announced yesterday.
According to a senior Health Ministry official, the woman caught the disease from another infected person. He said some of the identified cases include people who brought the disease from countries such as the United States, Canada, Australia, the Philippines, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
Besides following the routine health advice offered by the ministry, the official said, people should try to keep away from H1N1 sufferers. Some of those who have contracted the disease were those who visited and moved closely with patients, he said.
Meanwhile, extensive arrangements are being made by the ministry to hold a four-day workshop on how to prevent an H1N1 outbreak. The workshop is scheduled to begin on Saturday.
Health Ministry spokesman Khaled Al-Mirghalani said renowned experts on swine flu from the World Health Organization, the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and the Eastern Mediterranean Office in Alexandria have consented to enlighten the audience on the disease and tell them of curative and preventive measures to be taken to control it. Responsible health officials from the 20 health regions in the Kingdom will participate in the workshop, which will be held in Riyadh.
The workshop will provide an ideal platform for the ministrys officials to compare notes with experts and accept their suggestions for further improvement of our national strategy to combat the disease, Al-Mirghalani told Arab News. He said a national committee headed by the health minister himself is responsible for implementing the preventive programs through the ministrys network.
Al-Mirghalani said the Kingdom, which hosts a big expatriate population, has the additional responsibility to look after hundreds of thousands of foreign Haj and Umrah pilgrims as well as business visitors.
Following the workshop, experts will be taken to the Haj Terminal of King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah and other places with huge concentration of pilgrims to get their ideas and suggestions in overcoming the current health crisis.
Al-Mirghalani said Health Minister Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah, who is slated to inaugurate the workshop, is open to any constructive suggestions to combat the disease.
