Porbandar Jamnagar Junagadh District Saurashtra Kutch News Samachar Gujarat India

The National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) on Tuesday claimed that it has reached a milestone by procuring 5.5 lakh liters milk per day from Saurashtra Region and Kutch regions of Gujarat India.

As per NDDB, 60,000 milk producers are pouring milk from 1,400 villages of Junagadh District, Surendranagar District, Amreli District, Kutch District, Bhavnagar District, Jamnagar District and Porbandar districts of the state.

It is pertinent to note here that both NDDB and the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) that markets brand Amul are involved in a milk war in Saurashtra-Kutch region since October last when NDDB started procuring milk from Surendranagar district through Saurashtra Kutch Dairy Projec Earlier in November, Amul had claimed that it had achieved a milestone by creating over 1,600 village dairy co-operatives within a span of two years in Saurashtra and Kutch from where it had started collecting over one million liters of milk per day"As per the mandate given by government of Gujarat, we refurbished and upgraded Junagadh Dairy in the first phase to initiate the process of promoting new generation cooperatives in Saurashtra and Kutch region.

The processing capacity of the dairy plant is being expanded from three lakh liters per day to six lakh liters per day and a new 30 tone powder plant is being set up as a part of the process," NDDB said on Tuesday, adding that it has adopted innovative practices like electronic transfer of information on quality and quantity of milk tested in the presence of members at village level to a central billing unit in the dairy NDDB's release added that while payment is directly made to the bank account of each pourer member,members have been provided with biometric cards and payment is made to individual pourermember at the village level using biometric cards NDDB also plans to extend productivity enhancement services such as artificial insemination, feeding and veterinary to the entire area in future.

Swine H1N1 Flu Jamnagar Rajkot District News Sorath Gujarat India

The swine flu death graph is rising at an alarming rate in Rajkot District.

Five more people died on Friday and Saturday. Since June 22, when the first suspected case was reported in the city, the death toll has been steadily climbing. The toll as per sources is 20. A total 547 patients were treated in outpatient door department, created for swine flu patients at Rajkot's Pandit Dindayal Hospital, control room in charge of the hospital Dr U Mehta said.

On December 25, after a one-and-half-year-old baby died in the morning, a 50-year-old woman succumbed to H1N1 in the night.

On December 26, four-month-old baby Chintan Anilkumar, admitted on Wednesday from Kankot area, Rajesh D, 19, brought from Halwad in Surendranagar district on Friday died in the civil hospital. Rekha Turi, 40, of Jamsalaya in Jamnagar district died in a private hospital in Rajkot. Since Rekha's case was the first one reported in Jamsalaya, her house has been sealed and all preventive measures are being taken.

From December 17 to 24, 10 patients have died. At present, 36 of them are under treatment, of which 26 are positive cases and reports for 10 are awaited from Ahmedabad.

The death figures have jolted the Rajkot administration into action. Many are blaming the lax attitude of the administration for high number of deaths. The first death was reported on August 25, but special outpatient door treatment for swine flu patients was started a month later on September 10, a source said.

Meanwhile, more doctors have been appointed to tackle the situation since last week. "A chief doctor, two residents, two assistant professor-level doctors, one anesthetist and extra nurses have been put on duty per shift," said Dr Mehta.

In Rajkot, till date, 784 patients were given preventive treatment. According to sources, out of samples sent for confirmation, 88 per cent samples were positive. Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC) health officer Dr Mitesh Bhanderi said, 1,050 doctors were given special training on swine flu guidelines.

Jamnagar Surendranagar District Tarnetar Fair Swine Flu News Gujarat India

With the fairs and festivities of last week supposedly causing the sudden spurt in cases of H1N1 flu in Saurashtra, Surendranagar district health officials are trying to prevent the spread further in the forthcoming Tarnetar Fair to being on August 22 in the district.

Chief District Health officer of Surendranagar district, Dr BR Solanki said, "We have set up 14 teams for on the spot screening of people who will attend the Tarnetar fair, which will be held 9 km away from Than is ancient Trinetreshwar temple from August 22 to 25."

Anybody suspected of swine flu will be taken to Mahatma Gandhi Hospital in Surendranagar and treated there, Solanki added. More than 5 lakh people are expected to visit this annual festival held at Tarnetar no Melo during the five days.

This apart, across the seven districts of Saurashtra, three of which have already reported positive cases, district health authorities are gearing up to deal with the situation. Seven positive cases have been reported from Rajkot, Jamnagar and Bhavnagar in last two days.

In Rajkot, after a 19-year-old student of Vivekanand Institute of Hotel and Tourism management tested positive, the district health authorities paid a visit to the institute late on Tuesday evening. A team of civil hospital doctors also paid a visit and checked the condition of other students. As two of them showed certain symptoms of the flu, they were sent to civil hospital for precautionary check up.

Ramesh Morani, Chairman of the institute said, "We have taken all necessary steps to be safe. We have asked the students to go home if they wish to and we are also ready to shut the institute if the situation warrants." The total number of suspected cases from Rajkot is now at 19. Four of them have tested positive and nine are negative.

In Jamnagar, of the five suspected cases one has been reported positive, whereas in Bhavnagar both suspected cases are reported positive.