Centre, Delhi govt confer how to tackle swine flu

New Delhi: With the onset of swine flu season, Union Health Ministry today asked Delhi government to come out with a mechanism to fix rates for testing H1N1 samples to help minimize expenses and stop overcharging common people.

This was among a series of decisions taken during a meeting chaired by Union Health Minister J P Nadda and Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain to review the preparedness in the national capital to address and manage swine flu in winter months.

Nadda assured support to Delhi government in its efforts to tackle the disease and emphasised that it was a joint effort between the Centre and Delhi government to ensure adequate measures are undertaken for timely and adequate action to minimise morbidity and mortality due to influenza A H1N1.

"During the joint meeting, it was decided that guidelines for vaccination against influenza A H1N1, infection control and standard treatment protocols would be shared with the Delhi government.

"Hospitals of both the central and Delhi government are to ensure adequate stock of drug Oseltamivir and other consumables and Delhi government would work out a mechanism to fix ceiling rate in a realistic manner for testing of influenza A H1N1 samples to minimise out-of-pocket expenditure by the general public," an official statement said.

Earlier, Nadda after chairing the meeting, tweeted,"Asked Delhi Health Minister @SatyendarJain to ensure no overcharging for Swine Flu tests by pvt labs."

During the meeting, it was also decided that data on cases due to influenza A H1N1 in both central and Delhi government hospitals would be shared with the media as also plans of both governments.