By Chris Ahimbisibwe

THE health minister, Dr. Stephen Mallinga, has cautioned school administrators in Bushenyi to take pre-cautionary measures against swine flu.Mallinga said the affected schools should confine the students to the institutions.

He said the schools should be quarantined until the disease was eradicated. He said administrators should ensure that students in the boarding section do not mix with the day students.

Swine flu broke out at Kitabi seminary and now other cases have been reported at Bishop Ogez High School, both in Bushenyi district.

Mallinga was on Friday addressing journalists and the Bushenyi district officials at Crane Hotel in Ishaka town. The district swine flu task force briefed him about the situation.

He, however, appealed to the public not to panic saying the flu was manageable.

The Bushenyi district Woman MP, Mary Karooro Okurut, petitioned the minister to release an emergency fund for Bushenyi, saying the campaigns on radios against the epidemic should be intensified.

Responding to Karooro’s request, Mallinga announced that the ministry would release an emergency fund this week.

The Bushenyi district deputy resident commissioner, Nickson Kabuye, said they had stopped clinics and drug shop operators from selling flu drugs without checking the patient first as a measure to reduce the spread of the disease.

“If a patient turns up to buy drugs for flu and cough, he or she should be scrutinised first,” Kabuye said.