Swine flu centre in Warangal

Hyderabad: Warangal will soon have an advanced swine flu testing centre at MGM hospital. In the absence of such a centre in north Telangana, patients with suspected swine flu symptoms have to come all the way to Hyderabad for diagnosis which puts heavy financial burden on them.

To bring a swine flu suspected person to Hyderabad by a private vehicle, stay in Hyderabad for three days and diagnostics tests in private hospitals costs around Rs 12,000, according to sources.

According to officials, the Health department has selected MGM hospital for setting up the full-fledged swine flu testing centre. Already the MGM medical college hospital has an isolation ward for treating swine flu positive patients. Besides, it has a strong microbiology department that would support in testing samples.

Speaking to The Hans India, Dr Subbalakshmi, Joint Director, Epidemics, said the purpose for establishing swine flu centre at Warangal is to minimise the financial burden and to get treatment as early as possible to swine flu positive cases. “To establish a swine flu centre, we require a reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RTPCR) equipment which tests not only swine flu but also dengue samples and other viral samples also,” she said.

With this, the state will have three testing centres, first at Institute of Preventive Medicine (IPM) in Hyderabad, second centre at Fever Hospital in Hyderabad and now the third one at Warangal.

Similarly, the Health department proposes to set up another testing centre in Adilabad district. Suspected patients of swine flu from Adilabad district are visiting Maharashtra for diagnostic tests. Maharashtra has the highest number of swine flu cases and deaths in recent times.