By IANS,
Gandhinagar : The Gujarat government Monday asked the central health ministry about guidelines for involving private hospitals to detect and treat swine flu patients in the state.
In a letter to central Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, Chief Minister Narendra Modi said that there were well equipped private pathology laboratories and hospitals in Gujarat which can verify blood samples for swine flu virus and also admit and treat patients and sought guidelines for allowing them to help.
Modi said that government hospitals in Gujarat immediately require about 150 medical kits for testing patients suspected to have swine flu virus and more Tamiflu tablets. The state currently has a 300-bed facility in government hospitals for the isolation of those confirmed to have the disease, he said.
The state’s first swine flu death was reported in Ahmedabad Sunday with an NRI Pravin Patel succumbing to the disease. There are still 53 suspected swine flu cases in the state and their samples are being examined to determine whether they are suffering from the disease.