The Delhi Government has woken up to the danger of swine flu and started taking measures to curb the health menace, aggravated by the lack of required medicines and laboratories, and exorbitant test fees. The Delhi Government on Wednesday released a set of guidelines, fixing the maximum fee for a swine flu test at Rs4,500, said Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain. Private diagnostic test centres have been charging up to Rs9,000 for a swine flu test. The Government announced a helpline number 011-22307145 for people to complain in case of overcharging by private labs, or to seek any help.
Only three Government diagnostic centres — AIIMS, National Centre for Disease Control, and Patel Chest Institute — are conducting free tests. However, as a large number of people are making a beeline for tests, medical reports are taking as long as five days. Moreover, because of the three-four days of waiting time, patients are forced to undergo tests at private diagnostic centres.
The long waiting time has worsened some cases, where patients have lapsed to Category C from Category A. While the number of deaths is six so far, over 1,700 cases have been registered till mid-February this year. On Wednesday itself, 643 people underwent tests, of which 102 tested positive. As per reports, people are so afraid that they are undergoing the swine flu test even for mild cold and cough.
The Government guidelines issued on Wednesday have now ordered that only Category C patients will be admitted to hospital. Category C patients have mild fever, cough, throat irritation, body pain, headache, diarrhoea and vomiting. Director of Health Services Dr SK Sharma said that the guidelines will reduce the burden on hospitals as well as ensure speedy medication to the needy.
Patients were running from pillar to post as New Delhi Medicos — the sole supplier of the swine flu medicines — went out of stock last week. However, to fix the problem, Dr Sharma said that 40 licences would be issued to dispensaries to distribute the required drugs like Tamiflu, Fluvir and Antiflow. The Government has asked all hospitals, having over 100 beds, to treat swine flu patients. A team of doctors have also been made available in all the nodal hospitals to keep tabs on the situation.