After much delay, the Union Health Ministry’s approval for the swine flu lab is a welcome sign for the State of Uttarakhand. However, the Mahant Indiresh Hospital would charge anything more than `4,000 from one suspected patient for report of H1N1 virus. The MS of the hospital claimed that the swine flu kit is very expensive but added that the hospital would keep the charge at a modest rate at least 15 percent less than other private laboratories.
It is pertinent to mention here that the State Health Department charges no fees from the suspected cases of swine flu as it sends them to NCDC, New Delhi. The MS Mahant Indiresh hospital said that though the State Health Department has not approached them but the hospital is interested to enter in some sort of understanding with it so that the samples can be tested here itself.