Patients with Swine flu symptoms need not be admitted in the hospital for collecting sample: Telangana Health Dept

Hyderabad: Patients affected with swine flu were facing tough time with some of the corporate and private hospitals in the State fleecing patients under the name of treatment.

What is still worse is some hospitals were sending patients turning critical to government hospitals after treating them for over a week and minting huge bucks in the process.

The Telangana health department has decided to modify a condition for swine flu treatment in order to stop private hospitals from literally looting patients.

Now any patient coming with swine flu symptoms need not be admitted in the hospital, which was a must for collecting sample.

Earlier, patients coming with symptoms like fever, cough, sore throat, chills, weakness and body aches etc used to be admitted by private hospitals fearing swine flu and then their samples were sent for lab to check whether they were affected or not.

Those who tested negative used to be discharged after their condition improves while positive patients had no option but to continue with treatment in that particular hospital.

However, this situation is going to change in the next few days. With swine flu cases emerging frequently from last two-three weeks, the health department has decided to make this key change.

According to senior officials of the Health department, all DMHOs have been instructed to pass on instructions in this regard to private hospitals in their jurisdiction.

Accordingly, district health administrations have chalked plans to hold meetings with private hospital managements at the earliest.

It may be mentioned here that the major State hospitals including OGH, Gandhi, Niloufer, Chest and TB and Fever hospitals are equipped with isolation wards with 10 exclusive beds each and all safety gear, equipment and machinery to treat swine flu patients.

Officials stated that the treatment for swine flu in government hospitals is no less than corporate hospitals.

The health officials have appealed to swine flu affected patients and their families to consider admitting in the major government hospitals in the State capital and in districts for better treatment and recovery instead of wasting money in private hospitals.

Anyhow private hospitals are discharging critical patients at the last minute to get treated in State hospitals.