Medical students in line to give swine flu injections to patients

Published on Friday 24 July 2009 10:34

STUDENT doctors may be called upon to administer swine flu jabs in the Lothians as it emerged it may be up to a year before health chiefs have enough vaccines to go round.

Under plans being considered by health chiefs, medical students would be used as there would not be enough nurses and GPs to cope with the demand.

If it was decided that everyone was to get a jab – a situation which is seen as being some way off – 800,000 people would have to be processed as quickly as possible.

Dr Alison McCallum, the Lothian health board's director of public health, has stated that it "might take up to 12 months to receive NHS Lothian's full allocation" of the vaccine.

One of the reasons for this, she told a meeting of the board, was because the Scottish Government, in common with all other western administrations, will help out developing countries which don't have the resources to buy their own inoculations.

This was "for the better good of the planet and, in that respect, the availability would be dependent upon the needs of other countries".

The government today confirmed that developing countries would be assisted, but this would not impact on the commitment to vaccinate 100 per cent of the population should that be required.

Meanwhile, the possibility of mobilising the Lothians' sizeable fleet of medical students to pitch in with any mass vaccination process has been discussed at board level.

It is understood other health boards in the UK would look at a similar move to ease the strain on GPs, who in a worst-case scenario could be dealing with an extra 5,500 appointments per week.

Planning for a doomsday situation has also seen health chiefs warn that at the virus' very worst there could be up to 2,000 deaths a week in the Lothians, with 50 per cent of the region's workforce being off sick and up to a third of people infected.

Latest figures show the bug is continuing to spread, with nearly 350 people displaying flu-like symptoms at their GP in the last week. That figure has continued to grow since the new system of reporting was unveiled by the Scottish Government three weeks ago.

Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon revealed yesterday that 55 people had been hospitalised in Scotland since the outbreak, the majority on the west coast.

She said: "It remains the case that, in the majority of confirmed H1N1 cases to date, the symptoms have been mild and recovery straightforward. Nonetheless, NHS Scotland is doing its utmost to ensure that anyone who may be at a greater risk gets the help they need as quickly as possible."